Darkest Fate
by Susan Drakian
Summary: Hermione finds herself fifty years in the past. Stuck she decides to try to change the future.Falling in love with the enemy wasn't the plan.
1. Time Box

**Authors note: Sorry for the long absence was without a lap top for about six months. This has been beta'd first by Atlantean Diva, but has been beta'd again and looked over by Kit Kat who caught a few mistakes we missed the first time. Chapter 11 will be up ASAP. Just doing some refreshing and clean up. Please leave a review I love them. Ps: I do not own harry potter, JK Rowling does. **

The bushy haired witch sighed and looked to the empty seats next to her. Wondering where on earth the boys had gone off to. If they had skipped class by the time she found them, she would make them regret it. If they thought for two minutes that she would let them copy her potions notes; They had another thing coming. Not that Harry needed it._ "He has that book by the Half-Blood Prince. He doesn't need my notes or my help. If he loses the book I still won't help him._" She thought. _Don't fool yourself Hermione; you know you'll help Harry. No matter how angry you are at him._ She growled continuing the mental argument with herself. "At least I don't have to cheat." She muttered out loud.

"Are you alright, Miss Granger?" The kind, somewhat manipulative, and sweet voice of an aging professor Slughorn asked. She blushed, noticing she had angrily crushed her beetles a little too fine during her argument with herself.

"Careful, Miss Granger, too fine and the potion won't congeal correctly." He told her having noticed the mistake as well, before continuing. "Where are Potter and Weasley?" He questioned as his eyes fell to the empty seats on either side of her.

"They went to the hospital wing. They weren't feeling well, sir…I was distracted because I was worried…It won't happen again." This of course was a complete lie. But she didn't want them to get into trouble, even if they deserved it.

Once the professor turned his back and resumed his rounds, she went back to arguing and analyzing herself. _You need to let fourth year go. He is more interested in Cho, and he had only done that to cheer you up. Not to mention, he has the Dark Lord to worry about now. Ron's lost interest as well. He spends most of his time with Lavender. But there is still a chance that Harry and I could…Could what?_ She thought frowning as she fought back the tears that threatened her eyes. _Even if it is small, it's still hope and I won't let go of it so easily. I won't be the only selfish one here. I'll wait for him and help when I'm needed._ She vowed, ignoring the nagging feeling that the vow would be in vain.

Hermione went back to her potions with a renewed vigor, doing everything perfectly and by memory. She got the right amount of all the potion ingredients and timed the stirs correctly. By the end of the class she had made a perfect sleeping drought. She put the potion into small vials as she stood up and went over to Slughorn. She gave him the vials before she walked back to her work station, picking up her bag, putting her school supplies in it and swinging it over her shoulder as she walked out the door. She quickly ran to the library to get some work done.

She wanted to get a head-start on her homework before dinner time. She went to her favorite spot in the back corner of the library and took out her book, quill, ink, and parchment from her bag. Making sure she had everything, she opened the book and buried her nose in it, letting herself get lost in the comforting pages and the information it held within.

It wasn't until much later when she had finished, she had realized what time it was and that she had missed dinner, again. Quickly grabbing her things she swung her bag over her shoulder, and waved to Madam Pince on her way out. She made her way to the common room as quickly as she could, her earlier frustration returned ten-fold. She was a witch on a mission, and she would not allow anyone to mess with her.

As she entered the common room Seamus and several other students recognized that she was in a mood and had scattered faster than you could say "quill". She did a quick scan around the room. Finding the boys easily she marched over and slammed a book down onto their table to get their attention. "Why weren't you in potions today? You are never going to learn anything if you skip a class. I'm not letting you copy my notes! It is absolutely ridiculous that you would think for one moment that you could get away with this!"

"I-" Harry began but she quickly cut him off without giving him the chance to reply.

"Don't get me started Harry James Potter! You have that book, so you really don't need MY help in the first place. However, you shouldn't let that get to your head it's still YOUR responsibility to get to class!"

"-had to talk to Professor Dumbledore." Harry finished, staring at the big book in Hermione's hands apprehensively.

She blushed now feeling utterly guilty. "Sorry."

"It's ok." Harry smiled at her. Their eyes locked, and she instantly felt herself relaxing into his emerald gaze. He had that effect on her.

"I got distracted by Lavender…" Ron feebly replied.

Hermione bristled at the mention of Brown, her calmness instantly fading. Ron realized too late, he had said the wrong thing.

"Since you could not help it, Harry, you can borrow my notes, just this once." She handed him her parchment with that day's notes.

"As for you Ronald Weasley, Lavender Brown IS NOT a legitimate excuse to miss class!" Hermione stated, feeling angry and hot and utterly irritated and infuriated, at the both of them. She decided she needed air. She marched to the portrait hole, leaving both boys confused and looking at each other.

"She must be on her period." Ron muttered. Harry nodded in agreement. Hermione hearing this shot a spell at their heads as she went through the portrait hole. Harry was able to duck but Ron wasn't so quick, pimples had started to grow on Ron's face causing a roar of laughter from some of the other students.

Hermione quietly walked to the abandoned part of the castle that wasn't far from the old ruins. Her feet took her past dusty old portraits, some you could barely make out the painting. _"Why is it that both of them have someone and I don't? I thought Harry and I…" _She shook her head ridding herself of the memory. She wasn't going to go there. _I hate how I'm nothing more than a back-up plan: the bushy haired bookworm, mud blood, nobody, who would always be the golden trio's brain, nothing more than their proverbial crutch!_

The area she walked to had not been used in over hundreds of years. It was her safe haven, a place she wouldn't be found when she needed to cool her head. Lately she had been coming here a lot. She was starting to feel unwanted and unneeded. Ron had Lavender. Harry had more problems than he could deal with. He also had his eye on Cho in spite of what the disasters had been in fourth and fifth year.

All she could do was be there for them when they needed her help, which wasn't often anymore since Harry had Professor Dumbledore, the Half-Blood Prince, Ron and countless other people. He rarely came and asked her for anything. Ron never pulled away from Lavender long enough to give Hermione the time of day, of course unless he wanted to copy her homework. She frowned, wishing for the fourth time that week that she was somewhere else. Somewhere, where she was needed. She wanted to be on a adventure where she could define herself as a young woman and capable witch.

She wanted to prove that she was not just a know-it-all, bookworm. She wanted to find love with someone who would welcome her input and intelligence. Preferably someone who had brains enough to hold an intelligent conversation, and would accept her no matter who she was, or what she was thinking, or her views. A person who would not condemn her for being anything but conservative. Someone who would respect for not flaunting her assets like every other brainless teenage witch (or muggle teenager for that matter). A person she did not have to constantly think about her blood status around. That was her dream, a dream that seemed impossible.

She shook the very un-Hermione like thoughts and feelings out that were becoming more and more frequent from her mind. She sat on the window seat of the room. She opened the book that was still in her hands and went back to the paragraph she was reading earlier in the library. "_Love is as much of an object as it is an obsession. Everybody wants it, everybody seeks it, but few achieve it and those who do will cherish it, be lost in it and above all never, ever forget it_." As Hermione read that, she snorted at the appropriateness of that statement. That was exactly how she felt about love at that moment. She had long grown out of the childish delusion that she could find love in Ron. Lets face it. They were nothing alike, he could never give her the mental stimulation she craved. She needed someone who was intelligent enough to challenge her and force her to think.

She had felt Harry and her had something. After all, they had kissed in fourth year. Tears brimmed in her eyes at the memory of her first and only kiss. It was to the point where the idea of love seemed impossible. However, a part of her still believed.

Shutting the book before she could have another mood swing, She stared out from behind the long since shattered stained glass window towards the lake, which seemed beautiful from her point of view. The atmosphere always had seemed like it was radiating magic. On some cold quiet nights, Hermione could swear she could see an apparition on the island in the middle of the lake, A woman with silver hair in a ghostly white dress. She had never seen her anywhere in the castle, and she never knew if she truly saw her for she was gone the moment she tried to register the form. It was one of the reasons she was obsessed with _Hogwarts, a history_. Yet there were no stories in any books relating to any important events to that specific island. It added mystery to the place. It was nice to know after 5 years of schooling and trouble and unfurled secrets there was still something mysterious around. She never went there because she felt as if some things should remain mysteries. The island appealed to her, she was terribly curious about it and kept her eye out for any information. Tonight she didn't get a glimpse of the woman but, there was definitely something going on over on that Island. The trees were rustling and there was an energy coming from it.

Hermione yawned after a few moments of gazing and got out her diary from the hidden compartment of the windowsill seat, which could be found once you lifted the cushion and pulled up the latch hidden between the stone wall and the seat but it was hard to see. Opening up the dark blue diary, she stared at the cover with three silver mermaids resting on a rock with waves splashing, which she had charmed to move. They were surrounded by a silver boarder with small silver seashells on the four corners. They were made out of a metal so they protruded somewhat it added texture. The same material was used to make the swirly shells down the spine. She poured all her thoughts onto the crisp pages within the diary until the clock struck midnight. She started to doze off at her seat around the time the clock struck twelve. But then she heard something, something that sounded a lot like whispering. Hermione lifted her head as she looked around the room with observant eyes. She did not see anyone and she was about to go back to gazing out the shattered window, when she heard it again.

She tried to ignore it, but the whispering just grew louder and louder with more whispering joining in with the original. Starting to get curious on what the whispers were saying and who or what was whispering in the first place, she pocketed her diary and crept down the hall. She had never been this deep into the older part of the castle, so she had to continuously brush cobwebs and dust out of her hair and clothess as she got deeper and deeper in the wing.

The whispering grew louder and yet it was still impossible for her to figure out what was being said, if anything it became more jumbled the closer she got. When she got to the very last room of the wing, she pushed open the decaying door that had a large gash in it. as if a powerful spell had hit it. It was dirtier than all the other doors she had passed down the hall and it opened with a loud creaking sound, like the room was taking a deep breath after having held it for so long. It was almost as if she had been the first person to enter the abandoned room in over a thousand years.

Cautiously, she stepped into the room and the voices abruptly stopped. She looked around the room. The room was large and dusty. Cobwebs coated the walls and all the corners. Layers and layers of dust covered everything within the room. The bed was directly in front of her in the center of the room against the wall it looked like it was made of dust rather than any of the materials that had manage to be preserved. If there was anything left of it at all. The dust could be a hollow cast for all she knew. The tapestries hung in shreds upon the walls and there was a heavy smell of moth balls which she almost choked on as she inhaled.

_This place reminds me of something that would be in a ghost movie. This place is so strange. I feel so strange being in here.. Like I shouldn't be here, but that is absurd. Of course I'm not supposed to be here. This is a forbidden area! Yeah that's it... Nothing to worry about Hermione, you've dealt with far worse than an old room, come on now._

There weren't many possessions in the room, just a bed, a night table, and two tapestries with an unknown animal embroidered on it. It was so old she couldn't tell what it was supposed to be. There was also a painting, and a bookshelf with 12 dusty old books that had the thinnest layer of dust as if they had been touched recently, but not for at least several decades. "_I will have to look at those when I'm done looking around here_." She thought as she stepped onto the stone in the room, her footfalls were softened by the dust that had kicked up around her feet with each step, leaving her shoe prints in her wake, however the dust still remained under the outline of the print. Showing she barely made a dent in it.

Hermione curiously went to the lone painting she noticed on the far left wall located diagonally from the beds left corner. She gently and with care, blew over the painting, removing some of the dust and cobwebs. Using the sleeve of her robes she removed as much of the dust as humanly possible. In the process she got close enough to smell what seemed like rotten wood and of musty, decaying fabric and mold, which caused her to wrinkle her nose in disgust. _"This smells worse than Harry's clothes did after our ordeal in third year. Actually smells even worse than when he came back from the graveyard. Ugh! Now I smell like it." _She thought grudgingly.

When she finished cleaning off the portrait, she could see the picture was no longer moving as if the spell that had caused the pictures to move had worn off completely. From what she could tell, the portrait didn't have as many thick of layers of dust, much like the books, than everything else in the room, from the falling down four-poser bed to the decaying spell books. The thinner layer of dust on the books and painting gave her the impression someone recently, though not recently enough, most likely a few decades ago had found themselves within the room. When she reevaluated the room to make sure her observations were correct. The books and painting were indeed cleaner, for everything else was so thick you could barely tell what they were.  
><em><br>Ugh, even if this place is out of use, they could at least attempt to keep it clean. I can only imagine what kind of bacteria is around here. I hope I don't get sick._

Suddenly what…no correction _who_ the painting was of caught her eye. "Impossible…" She muttered, squinting as if the appearance of the man in the painting would change. The man was tall with black hair, a beard and piercing hazel eyes. There was the Slytherin crest pinned to his robes and a snake wrapped around the man's shoulders upper body over his right arm the creatures head was lifted. Some of its body was being held up by one of the mans hands. The other was rested on a balcony ledge. On that same hand was a ring in the shape of a snake that had emerald's for eyes and rubies along the scales of its back. She pulled out her wand "Scourgify!" She shouted. _"Why didn't I think of that sooner?"_ She scowled. She hated feeling stupid when she forgot she could use magic for something instead of doing it the muggle way. The dust and dirt over the plaque instantly cleared. She was now able to read the name. There clear as day light was the unmistakable name of "Salazar Slytherin."

As many times as she had read her favorite book _Hogwarts, a history_. There were no pictures of him. It had just said that there were no known paintings of Salazar Slytherin. Only one vague description of his appearance and the statue that can be found in the chamber of secrets, however unlike Harry, she had never seen it. The only details of Salazar Slytherin were either from Harry's lips as he described the statue or the vague descriptions, she had found within the pages of _Hogwarts, a history _and other books.

An uneasy feeling was growing in the pit of her belly; she brought her wand out and prepared for the worse. She scanned the room as she sighed heavily. As her eyes roamed the room, she spotted one of the cupboard's doors, near the bottom of the bookshelves was open a crack. Curiously, she pulled the cupboard open, but when she looked inside she discovered it was completely empty.

She was about to get up when she happened to look down, she noticed a stone was loose in front of the cupboard. As if compelled to do it, Hermione used her nails to aid her in lifting the stone out of its place, revealing a dark hole. Summoning up her Gryffindor Courage, she reached her hand down into the hole that was only big enough to fit her arm through, had her arm not been slender, she would have never been able to stick her arm through the hole. She move her arm, reaching with her fingers, looking for any evidence that anyone could have left something behind, just as she was going to give up, her fingers brushed against a soft cloth. She dug her arm a bit deeper, straining herself as her shoulder pushed tightly against the wall. Doing this allowed her to get deep enough to grasp the tied cloth, and pull it out of the hole.

It was wrapped around something big and covered in webs and dust. _"Like everything else in this room_." She thought. Untying the knot that held it together, slowly the fabric fell away, revealing a silver music box. It had silver intricate ivy and leaves around the edges. The boarder was twisted in gold. The four corners of the top held silver roses and the latch was a fairy clinging onto the lock, though the lid had sprung open at the slightest feel of her touch. A small locket was the sole thing in it. As well as a note. She opened the old paper slowly and carefully, as if it would crumple to dust if she unfurled it to fast.

It was easy to see it was a females hand writing... The writing was loopy and elegant. On it was a small paragraph. _"To whoever is reading this, I am probably long gone, as is my lover. History doesn't have to repeat itself. I have foreseen, someone would find this. I cannot say too much without altering things. So listen carefully. Don't make the same mistakes as me, child. You can change things. Just speak. "Tempus to the custos temporis."_

_"Just say time to the time keepers?" _Hermione questioned herself. _"Whoever wrote this, must have been completely mental. Sounds like a seer. They are all probably crazy. And delusional."_ She felt a small tug behind her navel. She couldn't just leave this alone. She sighed and decided she would at least humor what she read. She didn't trust seers as she thought they were all just a bunch of loony people, who made things up or predicted the worst outcome of everything. She thought hard. "_Time keepers. Time…a clock!" _She looked around the room but didn't see any clock. That was when she noticed that there was a small hatch in the bottom of the music box under the locket. Which she instinctively picked up and fastened around her neck. The locket was a simple silver with a Dove engraved on it with an ivy boarder. There was a bat dangling from the bottom of the locket. Then on the chain on either side was a Cat to the left and Fox on the right.

When she lifted the small hatch it revealed itself, once she removed the necklace. It uncovered a small compartment. Pulling out the object which turned out to be a small hourglass with a silver mouse attached to it. She frowned, another urgent tug at her chest this time caused her to bring the mouse to her lips, whispering to it. "Tempura." A second later, there was a blinding flash of light and the next it was gone. Nothing had happened. She gave a snort and put the hourglass back in its music box. Not noticing all of the sand had vanished from the hourglass.

She had just placed the music box inside of her bag and was standing up when she heard a male voice speak. "What are you doing here? This place is off limits."

Hermione nearly dropped her bag. Her entire body freezing, like a deer in headlights before her brain kicked in. She spun around to see who had spoken. She froze again as her mouth went dry when she saw a boy around her age standing in the doorway. His arms were folded across his chest and appeared to be glaring at her like he was about to commit murder.

He had jet black hair that fell loosely over his dark hazel eyes, and were up to his ears. Hermione flushed, she had never been physically attracted to anyone other than Harry before this very moment. She hoped the flush could easily be mistaken for embarrassment for being caught by him. She noticed his Slytherin robes and mentally cursed herself and shook her head; for being affected by her enemy's dark good looks. Come to think of it, she didn't even recognize him. Before she could say much of a word, quicker than a blink he had shoved her up against the wall with his wand drawn to her throat.

"Don't make me ask again, who are you? What are you doing here? And how-how did you manage to get in here?" He spoke coldly, pausing as he examined her robes. "You are wearing Gryffindor robes, so you must be in Gryffindor. However, that cannot be possible as I do not recognize you. So…How did you get inside the castle?" He hissed into her ear, his voice was like dark velvet and dangerous, which caused the hair to rise at the back of her neck, and goose bumps running along her arms. She was incased in fear, as she felt the warm breathe across her skin. Hermione was uncomfortably aware of how close the male was to her and it was doing nothing for her earlier reaction's to seeing him. The discomfort grew as she felt his nose brush up against her ear before his lips moved against it as he spoke. "You don't attend Hogwarts."

_What did he mean she didn't go here?_ Of course she did and she was angry that he didn't even know her. She was even angrier at herself that she didn't know him. "I am Hermione Granger of Gryffindor house, and I do attend Hogwarts." She spoke levelly forcing herself to keep calm. _Come to think of it. What is he doing here? If it is off limits to me it's definitely off limits to him_. "I should be the one asking you, what are you doing here? If it's off-limits to me, it's off limits to you."

"That is none of your business, and we shall see about that." He forced her from the wall by her upper arm and pulled her none too gently out of the room. She just knew she was going to have bruises later. He didn't say a word as he led her through the familiar hallways. Hermione's confusion was only growing. She was searching her brain and could not for the life of her, figure out who he was. She had to run to keep up with the boy's long confident strides. Well, more like a young man. He just wasn't like most adolescent boys she had ever come across. "_What is wrong with me? I need to stop thinking like that about a complete stranger."_

They walked in silence for about ten minutes. Whenever she would try to talk or move away, his grip tightened and she fell silent, wincing some. Eventually they stopped in front of the stone gargoyle staircase that lead up into the headmaster's office.

"Night Cap." He spoke to the gargoyle, it sprang to life and the stairs started to form. Again, Hermione found herself almost intoxicated by his voice. There was something, she paused in thought, not quit able to form the words. It wasn't possible…but there was something familiar about his voice, something that calmed her. That's it. It's official, she was completely mental.

Tom pushed her onto the steps in front of him, jerking her out of her reverie as he forced her to walk up the stairs in front of him. Hermione had wished he would let go of her arm. She could feel herself bruising already.

The climb to the top was made in silence as he pushed her along in front of him, finally letting her arm go once they were in the office. An office that didn't look the way she remembered. The office wasn't filled with odd silver objects that normally decorated it; however, the portraits were still the same. The man at the desk however wasn't Albus Dumbledore.

Instead it was an elderly man with long white hair and a matching beard, that wasn't as long as Dumbledore's, but was long all the same. Hermione felt frantic. Where was she? Who was this elderly man sitting in Dumbledore's chair, and who was this young man who escorted her to him?

"Professor Dippet. I'm sorry to disturb you. But I was making my rounds and found her in the abandoned part of the castle. I do not recognize her but she insists she attends Hogwarts."

_"Did I just hear him say Professor Dippet?" _She thought, her eyes widening in surprise. Retracting her earlier question of_ where _she was to _when_.

"Thank you,Tom. Hmm I do not recognize you Miss. What is your name?" Professor Dippet spoke as he examined the girl.

"My name is- Hermione Granger." She answered, trying to come up with a quick excuse. Putting two and two together, she assumed Tom was Tom Riddle, the boy who controlled Ginny during Hermione's second year. And would ultimately become Lord Voldemort.

"She is an exchange student," Came a voice from the doorway. "I'm afraid she just arrived this afternoon and had been with me all day. I thought I had given her directions to the Gryffindor dormitories, but I must not have been very clear. She must have gotten lost." Hermione turned to see a 50 years younger Professor Dumbledore standing at the entrance.

"Oh! That's right I had forgotten you told me she would be arriving this evening. Why don't you show her to the dorms, So she won't get lost again? Welcome to Hogwarts. I hope you learn to love this place like a second home. If you have any questions ask me, Professor Dumbledore, or Tom. If we are not available, I'm positive any other student would be happy to help you." Professor Dippet Exclaimed.

"Tom, would you mind escorting Miss Granger to her classes and make sure she can get around the castle?"

"Yes sir." Tom said, giving Hermione a look that said he would rather pitch himself off the astronomy tower.

"I will escort Ms. Granger to her dorm, Sorry for all this confusion Headmaster." Dumbledore spoke before holding out his arm for Hermione, who took it with a shaky hand. He put a comforting hand over the one that rested on his forearm. She followed him in silence, as he led her towards the Gryffindor tower, until they were a safe distance away and out of earshot.

"I don't know why you are here. Let me just say I had a fair warning. You have to figure things out on your own. I will help whenever I can. I had the house elves get some temporary clothes for you. What you're wearing now is not appropriate for this time period." Professor Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling behind his half moon spectacles. "Don't be afraid, I know this isn't making much sense now, but I assure you it will." He paused once they stopped in front of the portrait of the fat Lady .

"Password?" She asked, staring surreptitiously at the young lady next to Professor Dumbledore. "What in heavens is she wearing?"

"Caput Draconis." He replied ignoring the fat lady's question. They watched as the portrait swung open revealing the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Thanks," Hermione mumbled and scrambled into the room. She was confused now more then ever before and growing more so by the second. It seemed like Dumbledore wouldn't be of much help. Apparently a younger Dumbledore still spoke in riddles.

She nervously looked around the common room, taking a deep breath as she took in the atmosphere. She felt just like she had in her first year, awkward and unsure of herself. She didn't feel at home, even though the place was familiar.

"You must be the new girl," A sweet voice said from her right. " Hi, I'm Amanda Ridgeway. I'm a prefect and if you need any help, just ask. Professor Dumbledore is our Head of House. He told us we were getting a new student today." She grinned as she held out her hand.

"Hermione Granger." She said, as she shook her hand and noticed Professor Dumbledore was right about her attire. All of the girls skirts went past their knees. Some of the girls wore muggle dresses that Hermione recognized from the 40's, while pure-blooded witches wore an older style since, they didn't keep up with muggle fashion. These girls wore black skirts or dresses that went all the way down to their ankles, with a corset over it. Hermione's mid-thigh skirt was practically indecent compared to the latter's.

"Thanks, I'll remember that. Although Headmaster Dippet assigned Tom Riddle to help me." She said, pretending she didn't know who he was. "Who is he exactly?"

"Lucky you," Several girls exclaimed.

Hermione didn't feel she so was lucky.

"Tom Riddle is an extremely strong, silent, sexy, intelligent, and powerful Slytherin wizard!" A girl squealed from the other side of the room. She had wavy brown hair and brown eyes with a dust of freckles over her nose. "He doesn't really talk much. However, he has all the slytherins running scared. So in our opinion, we think he is someone you don't want to mess with, which just adds to the darling's appeal." She paused and took a breath before asking, "Where are you from?"

Hermione thought quickly, and soon came up with a plausible excuse. "I'm from England, but I attended Beauxbatons in France, up until last year. I wanted to be closer to home, so I decided to transfer to Hogwarts."

Amanda smiled. "Welcome home! You look tired, perhaps you should get some rest. Our dorms are to the right and three floors up." She said, pointing towards the stairs.

"Thanks." Hermione muttered before she went up to the girl's dorm room. The girls started gossiping about Riddle the second she left their sight. Her trunk was already waiting for her. She still didn't think she was lucky. Especially as she is now stuck with her worst enemy, the future Dark Lord. She huffed as she flopped onto the bed. Her highly logical brain began flooding with questions as to why she was back in the 40's, who sent her here, and how was she going to return? Rolling onto her stomach, she pushed those thoughts into the back of her mind. They weren't her most troubling questions, no, her attraction to one Tom Marvolo Riddle was. She groaned, as visions of blue fire danced across her mind. Deep penetrating blue eyes that stared deep into her soul, yearning to learn all of her secrets.

Hermione groaned again. _"Why am I having such strong reaction to him. And why does he feel so familiar?"_

"He's poison." She muttered aloud, into her pillow, before getting up to remove her clothes. She didn't feel like changing. She wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep until she woke up in the right time, a time that didn't include Him. But deciding that it might look odd to sleep fully clothed-at least in this time period, she rummaged through her trunk, removed her nightgown and prepared for bed.

Sitting on the side of the bed, she put her head in her right hand. _"He hasn't even done anything to me yet, and he's already getting under my skin and beginning to manipulate me."_ She thought, before pulling the covers back, lying down on the bed; stretching out as she soon fell into a blissful, dreamless sleep. She would need all the rest she could get.


	2. First Day

**Authors Note: I do not own harry potter. Beta'd by Atlantean Diva. touched up by KitKat Hope everyone has a good spring break (that's coming up right? ) I love reviews! but they are by no means required :)**

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><p>Tom ran his fingers through his hair, a gesture he only did when he was truly annoyed. He started his search a month ago; a month of coming up with nothing but false leads and dead ends. On top of that, Dumbledore was getting suspicious of his latest activities. Tom chuckled to himself. Yet again, he was out of that old fools reach.<p>

Tom's feet automatically lead him through the hallways until he reached an older part of the castle, where his ancestor's room was located. Most of the students never ventured to this side of the castle because of its terrible condition. Salazar's room was by far the dirtiest, dustiest, and dankest area in Hogwarts since it had been magically charmed not to let anyone enter. However, he had found a way in, after all he was Slytherins heir. It had taken him weeks to open the room nevertheless; the payoff had been worth his time and effort. The books alone had been proven useful by advancing his knowledge beyond what the conservative teachers allowed. They taught him how to find and enter the chamber of secrets.

He needed to think, and his ancestor's room was the perfect place to do so. There wasn't a threat of Avery, Abraxas, or any of the Black siblings (the causes of his migraine,) of disturbing him here.

However, Tom wasn't expecting to find a girl there either. Which is exactly what he found when he entered the room. He stood stock still for a beat before quickly looking around the room to see if anyone else was there. _"How did she get in here… Dumbledore can't even get in here. And who is she? I do not recognize her." _She had to be in his year or maybe a year younger? His mind was drawing a blank. Who was this bushy haired witch in front of him?

He watched her like a snake would a mouse as she tucked something silver in her bag and started to get up from her position on the floor. It was then that he noticed there was something very, very, weird about how she was dressed. For one, she showed far more skin than the other females in the school. Her skirt stopped mid-thigh and had to be at least five inches shorter than the normal standard girl's uniform and the top three buttons of her blouse were undone. The outfit was…odd, although according to the tie hanging loosely around her neck, she was in Gryffindor. _"Figures it would be a stupid Gryffindor. Still…I don't know her." _Which confused him because he had made it a habit to know each and every Gryffindor's Name.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, watching the bushy haired girl suddenly jumped and spin around to face him. Shock and fear cascaded across her face like water before disappearing like magic under a mask of neutrality. _She must be an idiot to stand in Salazar's room, in the presence of his heir, as if she didn't have a care in the world._

"This place is off limits." He said, without giving her a chance to speak. Walking over, he pushed her against the wall, and pointed his wand at her throat. He smirked, more than satisfied with what he saw, when her fear rushed back to the surface. _I guess she's not an idiot._ He moved close enough to where his nose brushed against her ear, so she could hear him without him having to raise his voice.

"Don't make me ask again. Who are you, what are you doing here, and how did you get in? You're wearing Gryffindor robes, which should mean that you're in that house. Unfortunately, for you, I know everyone in Gryffindor and I don't recognize you. So how did you get into the castle?"

Tom fought to keep his anger in check, which was hard because he suddenly had the urge to draw blood. Part of him was curious if, her blood was as sweet as the smell of her hair, while the rest of him was just furious. His eyes flashed to snake-like orbs before going back to their normal blue as he forced his violent urges down.

"I'm Hermione Granger," She said. "And of course I attend Hogwarts." She motioned for him to look at her uniform, and then grabbed at her tie, "I'm in Gryffindor."

"We'll see." Tom said, grabbing hold of Hermione's arm non-to gently. Why should he be gentle? As if he could be gentle in his current emotional state. He was tempted to kill her, but didn't on the off chance she was a student. Her death would draw unneeded and unwanted attention to him, again. So instead, he decided to take her to Professor Dippet and let him handle her, killing two birds with one stone. She'd be someone else's problem, and he would discover if she attended Hogwarts.

Hermione had to practically run to keep up with his strides. Tom didn't trust her enough to let her go, so he pulled her along after him until he stopped in front of the gargoyle statue in front of the entrance to the headmaster's office.

"Night Cap," he said, causing the gargoyle to awaken and leap to the side, revealing a set of stairs. Pushing the bushy haired girl, Hermione, as she said her name was, onto the first step, he stepped up behind her.

Letting her go at the top, he cleared his throat to get the Headmaster's attention.

"Sir, I was doing my rounds and I found her in the restricted part of the castle. She told me she attends Hogwarts, but I do not recognize her." He gestured to Hermione, who was standing quietly beside him. "She's wearing Gryffindor robes but, do you know her?"

Tom didn't bother to hide the fact that he was in the forbidden area of the castle as well because, he knew Dippet wouldn't question him. The Headmaster never questioned his reasons for doing things that might be considered unacceptable for other students.

Waiting for Dippet's response, Tom took the chance to really look at the girl next to him. The blank mask she'd erected was completely gone and now replaced by confusion and fear. For a while, she looked like a rabbit about to scurry into a hole but then, she mustered up her Gryffindor courage, straightened her back and lifted her chin up as if preparing for a storm. _What an interesting little mouse.  
><em>  
>"Thank you, Tom." Dippet said, before turning to Hermione. "I do not recognize you Miss. What is your name?"<p>

Tom surveyed the girl again, watching her for any signs of weakness or reaction.

"My… My name is Hermione Granger." She said calmly.

Tom didn't detect any signs of lying. He strangely couldn't see into her mind either. He'd tried legilimens to no avail. The only thing he could see was fog, which only further heightened his annoyance at the little mouse. Why wouldn't Legilimens work?

His face hardened as a familiar voice pierced the air. Tom gripped his wand tighter, the very sound of the man's voice made him want to avada kadavra him right then and there. But he couldn't, it would spoil his plans. Loosening his grip, he put on the mask he wore for everyone else.

"She's an exchange student. She only arrived this afternoon and has been with me all day. I gave her the directions to the Gryffindor dormitories, but she got lost, so I must not have been very clear." Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling at Hermione, before turning to Dippet. "Don't you remember, I told you we should be expecting someone new today?"

"Oh! That's right, Albus. I forgot that you told me she would be arriving this evening," Dippet said. "Why don't you show her the dorms, so she won't get lost again?" Facing Hermione, Dippet gave her a warm smile. "We welcome you to Hogwarts. I hope you learn to love this place like a second home. If you have any questions, please ask me, Dumbledore, your head of house, your Professors, your classmates, and Tom. I'm sure any one of us would be happy to help you."

"Tom, I would like you to escort Miss Granger to her classes tomorrow since you have the same schedule." He said, staring down at a piece of parchment pulled from a file on his desk. "Will you please do that for me?"

"Yes, Headmaster." He said calmly, despite the anger churning in his gut at the idea of playing babysitter. Needing to put some space between him and the girl, he waited for her and the old fool to leave before heading out and to the Slytherin dorms.

Tom had barely walked through the door before being ambushed by Avery.

"Where did you go? We have that project due for Professor Slughorn tomorrow."

"Where I go is none of your business and as for the project, I finished it while you were "busy" with Parkinson." He slowly unfurled his earlier anger and let it seep into hi voice as he spoke to his "Friend".

"Oh, Sorry Tom," Avery said. Rubbing the back of his head, he stepped back, and looked at him apologetically. Tom was in one of his moods.

Tom inwardly cringed at being addressed by his filthy father's name. Apparently Avery hadn't grasped the fact that he'd changed his name.

"That's fine. You can make it up to me." he said, getting a sudden, brilliant idea.

"How so?" Avery said, perking up at Tom for giving him a way to redeem himself.

"_Pathetic_," thought Tom, Avery would never be more than scum to him, even if he was a valuable asset.

"There is a new girl in school. She has all of our classes and I want you to pay careful attention to her. I caught her wandering the halls earlier and I want you to inform me immediately if she does anything out of the ordinary or something that strikes you as fishy. I will be watching her myself as well." Tom said, and then added, "It's highly unlikely that she'll be able t sneak around me; nevertheless, I want an extra pair of eyes on her." Turning his attention to the silent blonde who had been watching him since he first walked in he said, "And that goes for you as well Abraxas.

"Why? Riddle, it's just a girl. I doubt she poses a threat." Avery looked at him quizzically, wondering why on earth his master would be interested in a weak minded girl.

"Do. Not. Question. Me" Tom said in a tone that broke the argument. "Just do it." He walked over to where his school books were and immediately started writing in his journal. Making notes for his next step, he ignored Avery, Abraxas, and Orion Black as they talked about the girl. He had a feeling he would have to change his plans.

He had seen the surprise in the girl's eyes at seeing the old fool, which made him question what she was really doing at Hogwarts. If she was an exchange student wouldn't she have already met Dumbledore? Or was this just another one of his feeble attempts to keep him in line? He watched a school of fish pass by one of the dungeon windows, ignoring the way his anger fed the heat of the flames dancing in the fireplace as his magic spiked and began to rattle. His fellow Slytherins and followers watched him wearily.

Hermione woke up early the next morning and began writing a timeline. She had learned from Amanda that Tom was a sixth year. This meant Tom had already killed several people by now. He would have also framed Hagrid for Myrtle's death. This was all she knew about him, other than the fact that the death eaters had been formed sometime around Riddles fifth year. She hated how limited her knowledge of his youth was. Knowing would have been an asset.

Shutting her time table, she dug into the trunk for some clothes, and went to the girl's bathroom to change. She struggled a bit with the garter belt that would hold her stockings up. She eventually figured it out. Once she was fully clothed, she looked in the mirror. Hermione was amused by her Appearance. She looked almost identical to the pictures of her grandmother she'd seen as a kid. Only her gram had straight hair and blue eyes, but their features were the same. The uniform of her year and this one were only slightly different. The skirt was knee length and she had to wear stockings held up by a garter, which would take some getting used to. Her shoes were. Well, nothing special just simple black Oxfords; a service type, round toe, with a leather heel. She believed they were a figure 64 but her memory of fashion was terrible. Her shirt and vest was the usual fair, even if the material was slightly itchy. She wondered if wizards were also rationing cloth due to the Muggle war.

Also Grindlewald was a problem in this time too. "_They were being attacked by both sides. then she remembered. Grindlewald never touched England, but the UK was still affected by his tight grip on imports and exports between witches and wizards. And they called me crazy for paying attention to Professor Binns_." With that thought in mind, she sighed and put on her robes and went downstairs.

Amanda was already waiting for her at the portrait hole. "Good morning, Hermione. I am going to show you where the Great Hall is. Come on, "She said, smiling brightly. Amanda had the kind of personality that seemed to light up the room and a face to match. She was bubbly with straight blond hair and blue eyes and a lean but not stick-thin body.

Hermione nodded, remembering she was supposed to be new, which meant she also didn't know the location of the place she'd eaten three meals a day for the past six years. "Uh…ok, thanks, you lead the way."

It didn't take long for them to reach the Great Hall. It was still early yet, so the Gryffindor table was only partly full. Hermione took a seat near the end trying not to draw attention to herself. "_Too late_" she thought as a boy, with black hair and hazel eyes who looked a lot like Harry, sat in front of her. Her heart gave a longing flutter. She missed her boys. She missed everyone, even the twins. She shook her head to dispel the maudlin thoughts.

"Sorry, I spaced out for a minute. What did you say?" She asked apologetically.

"I said," he chuckled light heartedly, "You must be Hermione Granger. Amanda" He practically sighed, "Has told us so much about you. I'm Eric Potter." He held out his hand; it's nice to meet you.

Hermione took it politely, noting the very affectionate way he spoke of Amanda. She was willing to bet her grades on the fact that Eric and Amanda were Harry's grandparents. She felt the oddest sensation, almost like vertigo, sitting at a table meeting her friend's and enemie's grandparents. She was almost certain she could hear the twilight Zone theme playing in the background.

"You seem distracted." Eric noted, before handing her, her schedule.

"Yes," She blushed, glancing down at the slip of paper. "I'm just a bit homesick." She said truthfully. Eric had the same calming effect on her as Harry, which was saying something, because not many people could calm her.

"Don't be afraid to ask any of us if you need help getting around the castle or catching up with your studies." Eric said. He opened his mouth to add something else when he was interrupted by Tom.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I'm supposed to be showing her to class." He drawled, as if he had better things to do and other places to be.

Eric gave Hermione a look that clearly said "I feel sorry for you," before turning his eyes back to the intruder.

Hermione sighed and quickly finished off her toast. She was famished after having skipped lunch yesterday, and then not having the forethought to ask Dumbledore to send her up something for dinner.

"Lead the way." She said, grabbing her bag and a book for light reading. Well, actually the book was written entirely of runes, most of which she had studied outside of class since, they were part of the seventh year curriculum.

"Got a problem?" She asked, seeing the look of interest on Tom's face. She stood up to her full height, which was probably nothing in his eyes, since he towered over her small frame. But still, she felt bold. She refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he terrified her. She had to play brave, even if she didn't feel it, because being afraid would reveal too much.

"Yes, actually I have a problem with your attitude," Tom said, looking down his nose at her. "Now come on," he turned and started down the hall, "before I decide to leave you here."

Hermione scowled and followed him to their first class, which was Potions with Professor Slughorn. Hermione felt slightly dizzy looking at a younger version of her current potions professor. Slughorn looked the same, for the most part, other than he was younger and actually had a head of dark hair as opposed to the wispy thin hair that hung on his head. His memory loss wasn't as bad and he actually seemed to know what he was doing. Something he certainly didn't know in her time. For he was writing detailed instructions down on the black board. That or she was still slightly grouchy about him praising Harry for cheating with that stupid book. Not that Slughorn knew he was cheating, but still. So she may have just thought that he was an idiot in her time because of that.

Still feeling a little queer about seeing a younger Slughorn, Hermione pushed her emotions away by following Amanda's lead and copying the instructions off the board.

"_The Sleeping Drought_," Hermione mused, _"I did this yesterda_y."

As time passed, she eventually stopped worrying about her current situation. Instead she concentrated doing her classes, studying usually had a tranquil effect on her. Chewing on her lower lip, she focused on the task at hand.

"Don't look now." The girl on her other side giggled, "But one of the Black brothers is staring at you." Hermione turned to the girl. She was the girl with brown, curly hair and brown eyes from last night, the one who said Riddle was cute.

"Who?" Hermione asked curiously. She started to turn around to see her admirer, but stopped when the said girl grabbed her shoulder and forced her attention back to the front of the room.

"Idiot! Don't let him know you know he's staring. That is so tactless. Don't you know anything about men? Then again, if I was being started at like that…"She giggled, "I"

"Cindy!" Amanda cut in, "Don't be so brazen. Seriously, when you go off like that I end up blushing for a week and find it difficult to even look at the opposite gender." She blushed, obviously thinking about Cindy's past comments. "Not to mention you'll land us all in detention again."

Cindy ignored her. "Honestly though, the Blacks are very handsome and smart. You should hear the stories I've heard! Let's just say Orion is one male I wouldn't mind…" She trailed off before making an obscene gesture by moving her index finger in and out of a hole she made with her other hand.

Hermione went redder than a Weasley's hair and buried her face in her arms. Amanda who wore a horrified expression, followed suit.

Cindy didn't seem to notice or care, and kept on going. "I mean come on, who wouldn't want to have sex with him? He comes from a pureblood family, has the looks, and isn't a dumb bell like the Gryffindor guys here. He's also hung like a horse according to Clara Bones, who lost her virginity to him."

Hermione sunk deeper and deeper into her chair as Cindy spoke. She was extremely uncomfortable with the topic and felt as if she was burning up.

Peeking out of her cocoon she noticed Amanda had her fingers in her ears.

Eric stared at the girls at the table in front of his, then looked back at Orion Black and then at Cindy. "He isn't THAT impressive," he argued, "I'm sure she was exaggerating."

Eric started to say more, but they were interrupted by a raven haired girl with rose colored lips and pale white skin. "So Cindy, did you see what Rose Carrow was wearing? She looks like a strumpet!"

Cindy's eyes brightened at the gossip and answered quickly. "Oh I know it! How does she get away with wearing such things!

Hermione silently thanked Merlin when she deemed it was safe enough to look up again. She sighed. "Amanda do you have a mirror?" She wanted to see if her face was as red as Ron's hair. If it looked anything like Amanda's then it did.

"I should have warned you about her." Amanda said apologetically.

Taking a deep breath to calm her frantically beating heart, Hermione took the mirror and put it slightly under the desk, so she could surreptitiously spy on the Slytherins…

Orion was indeed staring. She knew it was him because he had the same hair and eyes as Sirius. But she found he wasn't the only one looking at her, although the others were more subtle. Huffing, she handed the mirror back to Amanda and ignored her audience.

"What is so interesting about me anyway?"

"It's most likely because you are new." Amanda guessed.

"Or it's because you're new, unknown, and gorgeous as hell." Eric grinned. "It's how guys work," he quickly added when, he noticed Amanda's piercing stare.

Finishing her potion first, Hermione opened her book and buried her nose into it, mostly to block out the sound of the hormonal teenage witch next to her. She was now going on and on about who did what, when they did it, who they did it with, and where they did it. Sheesh, Cindy could give the tabloids a run for their money. The witch would be in heaven in the future.

"Well done Miss Granger, ten points to Gryffindor." Slughorn beamed as he did his rounds and noticed she was the first one to complete the Sleeping Drought.

Hermione smiled politely and went back to her book. After a while she got annoyed with the feeling of someone's eyes trying to burn a hole into the back of her head and turned to glare at the culprit only to lock eyes with Tom. He didn't even try to hide the fact that he had been watching her. He narrowed his eyes, his distrust showing clearly in his azure depths. Huffing, she slammed her book shut just as the bell rang and practically ran for the door, bumping her back and shoulder into Tom as she passed him.

Hermione headed into Charms not bothering to wait for someone to show her the way. Walking briskly down the hall, she let her anger lead the way. Upon reaching the door, she knew she had made a careless mistake.


	3. Challange

**Authors Note: I do not own Harry Potter. This has been Beta'd by Atlantean Diva. Touch Up done By KitKat ! Reviews Welcome.**

Hermione entered Charms and sat in a chair at the front of the class. Her earlier anger slowly receded as logic creeped into her conscience. Oh no! How would she explain how she knew the location of the charm's classroom? She knew the Gryffindors wouldn't question her, and if they did, she could just tell them she remembered it from when Dumbledore showed her around the castle. No, they weren't her problem. Tom and the Slytherins were the ones she would have convince, and she doubted she could. How do you lie, convincingly, to the most evil wizard alive and his cunning housemates?

For the first time since she arrived, she felt alone. She didn't have Ron or Harry to confide in. Her heart skipped a beat when she thought about her two best mates, especially Harry. Green eyes that would a put an emerald to shame floated to the for front of her mind. He had beautiful eyes, kind eyes that made her feel... "_No!_" she mentally screamed, promptly cutting off the thought before it could fully form. It was no use thinking of things that could not be, right now she needed an escape route.

"So, are you going to tell me exactly how someone like you, who had just arrived last night knew where the Charms class was?" Came a calming voice that sent chills down her spine, which was quickly followed by that nagging feeling of familiarity. His voice was laced with a dangerous, unspoken promise. She turned to stare at the tall, dark haired boy sitting down next to her. He unrolled his parchment and started jotting down the notes and instructions on the board.

"_Tom, of course it's Tom_." Hermione thought and vaguely wondered if he was going by Lord Voldemort yet. It was more than likely, since he'd started using the name at Hogwarts, and this was his final year.

"I would like to know that too. Very curious. " Said a deep, drawling voice, which belonged to a white-blond with silver blue eyes that were all too familiar, a Malfoy.

"That is my business, not yours," She snapped. She was about to get up and find another seat, but realized, too late, she was bound to the chair. She blinked, confused, and ran her a hand over what had to be an invisible rope. How hadn't she noticed? Don't freak out, just breath, she told herself. It's wasn't as if he could cause her any harm in the middle of charms class, at least she didn't think he could. Hermione watched, out of the corner of her eyes, as Tom removed his wand from underneath the desk and place it on the wooden table where it could be seen. She hadn't heard him do the spell. Could he do silent spells?

Tom faced her, his dark, penetrating eyes felt like they were reading her soul, making her cringe inwardly. "We will try this again. How did you know where the classroom was, when you had just arrived last night?"

Hermione took a deep breath, determined not to let him win. "Before I came here, I studied the blueprints of Hogwarts; I could walk this place in my sleep. I didn't want to get lost on my first day. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lesson to learn. "

She purposely opened her scroll, dipping her quill into the ink next to her and began jotting the notes down. The whole time she was hyper aware of his eyes studying her every move, it was maddening. Hermione glanced across the room at Amanda who gave her an apologetic look. A few minutes later a short, squat witch, with a hat that looked like a pheasant, walked in.

"Can I have you attention, please?" She asked when she got to the front of the room. "We have a new student, Hermione Granger, please make her feel welcomed. "Ms. Granger", she said turning to face the brunet witch, "I'm your charms teacher Professor Dymond." She smiled, before turning to address the class. "I will be splitting you all into groups and we will practice the Deprimo spell, so of course we will be going outside for this. It's a gorgeous day out, one of the last few of the summer. Heaven knows, you children need the fresh air, why look how pale some of you are." She looked at the Slytherins as she said the last part, causing Hermione to snort.

The Professor went around the room pairing everyone up, until it was just her and Tom. "_Just my luck_." Hermione thought sourly.

"Do you know what the Deprimo spell is? " She asked kindly, after pairing them up. Hermione answered automatically," It's a powerful wind spell that can loosen or remove objects. It can also detach objects that are out of reach.

"Very good Miss Granger, 5 points to Gryffindor. Now come on, chop, chop." She pushed all the students out of the class, and Hermione found she could move again. Standing quickly, she rushed over to Amanda and Cindy.

"Hey! What can you girls tell me about Tom? He creeps me out, I don't get him." Hermione spoke in softly, hoping Tom wouldn't overhear.

He didn't.

"Besides being utterly handsome, the strong silent type, dark and brooding, and radiating danger with every movement." Cindy swooned, ticking off his assets.

Hermione and Amanda exchanged glances and rolled their eyes. "Yes, besides that, Cindy."

"Well, he's very smart, top of the school grades wise. He can even do silent spells in Defense against the Dark Arts, something I can't seem to master," Amanda answered.

"He's a loner, but the Slytherins and teachers listen to everything he says. He's also very charismatic, even if he unnerves me."

"Such a tortured soul. "Cindy interjected winking at Abraxus as he passed. He winked back and slapped her on the ass on his way out. Hermione wasn't getting a very good impression of Cindy. She seemed like Pansy and Lavender combined. She was sweet, just really upfront about who she wanted and what she thought

"That's disgusting." Hermione, Amanda and Eric, who just walked up to them, said at once.

"Oh, lighten up guys, we won't be young forever. You need to learn to live a little."

It seemed that every generation had one overly hormonal teenage witch. In the 1940's it seemed to be Cindy. She had the urge to tell Ron and Harry but realized she couldn't. Hermione felt another pang, worse than the earlier one. She really was alone here. It was like first year all over again.

"Hey, what are you girls up to?" Eric asked, sliding in between Amanda and Hermione. "Saw you got paired up with Riddle, rotten luck that." Putting an arm over each girl's shoulder, the new friends walked down the hall.

"Be careful, ok, I've seen him do some right nasty spell work. Oi! Can I borrow your notes later, Amanda? Pleeeease, I forgot to take them. I was too busy watching Riddle. He seems to have a weird fixation on Hermione here." He patted Hermione's shoulder as he said her name.

"Yeah, I've noticed that." Amanda said, "And sure, you can borrow my notes. You're always late, I wonder why…"

Hermione couldn't help but crack a smile. It was obvious that Amanda had a crush Eric from the sweet smile playing on her lips. She must care for Eric a lot, since she let him get away be being late to class, much like Hermione did with his grandson.

"I hate, hate, hate, hate school when it comes to charms. Its lame." He replied, turning around and walking backwards so he was facing them as they talked.

"How will you pass your tests then?" Hermione asked, looking at him, trying to keep the conversation off Riddle.

"By studying the notes and practicing outside of class," He grinned.

By the time they got out of the castle and walked over the grounds at the edge of the forest, Hermione actually welcomed the parting of her semi-friends.

"Okay, I've put lanterns up in each of the tree's here." Professor Dymond spoke clearly so everyone could hear her. "Use the notes and what we have been practicing the past week in class to complete your task. I would also like you to use the wingardium leviosa spell, so that they don't hit the ground and shatter. I want to see how fast you can alternate spells. Now go to your partners and begin!"

Hermione split away from her group of Gryffindors and went over to where the Slytherins were huddled together. They stopped talking as soon as she got within earshot and regarded her with the same cruel looks as their future descendants. Only these Slytherins were suspicious and distrusting of her because of Tom, while their grandchildren were disgusted with her blood status.

"Are you ready Tom? " Hermione huffed. Crossing her arms, she turned on her heels and marched away without a backwards glance. "_He will either follow or he won't_." She thought, stopping under the lantern lit trees. Hermione missed the looks of fear and uncertainty on her classmates faces as they watched her retreating form. "She's either stupid or brave." Whispered a dark haired girl, in an extremely short skirt and white blouse with the first four buttons undone. If Hermione had been paying attention, she would've gotten her first look at Rose Carrow; the girl Cindy and Amanda had been speaking about in Potions. Another dark hair Slytherin female whispered "She's crazy." as she stared at Hermione's straight back.

Tom briskly followed her. He showed no outward signs of annoyance, until they were a safe distance away from everyone.

Hermione started to use the deprimo spell, but froze. Ok, it was more like she was frozen. She forced herself to keep calm when Tom came up behind her and took her wand hand in his. He made it look like he was guiding her movements to the teacher who was looking over at them.

"Are you two doing alright over there?" Professor Dymond shouted from the other end of the students.

"Tell her we are fine." He whispered harshly into Hermione's ear. His warm breath tickled her ear and she wished she could rub her ear against her shoulder.

"We are fine. Thank you, Professor." Hermione shouted surprisingly realistically. It seemed the boys were rubbing off on her; she didn't used to be able to lie convincingly, well, not to teachers. Once Professor Dymond was out of sight and earshot, Riddle put his hand over Hermione's mouth. She refused to whimper in fear, though she was sure her trembling body gave her away.

"Don't ever act like you're in charge of me again. You're going to learn, and learn fast, that you're not in control here. I won't do what you tell me to do again. I will also find out why you're really here because, I don't believe you're an exchange student. You know your way around the castle too easily, and you looked confused last night when the old man said you were a transfer student. I'll find out who you are… Hermione. I could kill you without a second thought." He ran his fingers over her neck and stopped over her rapid, beating pulse, before he continued speaking. "Don't even think about going to the teachers. "

He slowly removed his hand from her mouth before quickly retrieving the lantern with the two spells that were required. Hermione had thought he'd unbind her, but she was wrong. "Now, just so you know I mean business," She heard him whisper, his eyes intently focused on her. She gulped, not liking the sinister look in his dark eyes. "To—"

"Silencio."

Less than a second after the words left his lips, she felt pain shoot through every nerve endings in her body. It felt like someone was sawing them in half. She opened her mouth and scream, even though no one could hear her. The pain was excruciating. She couldn't think, barely breathe, her past, present and future flashed quickly before her eyes. She had to have been under the curse for at least a minute, but it felt like hours.

She collapsed when the curse was lifted. Landing on her hands and knees, she coughed and gasped for breath. Her lungs constricted as she struggled to breathe in the fresh cool air.

She coughed, and turned to face the class only to see Tom walking calmly away.

"Hermione!" Cindy exclaimed, as she ran up Hermione's bent form. Seeing Cindy kneeling next to her friend, the teacher and several students called after them. Amanda and Eric ran up to them, quickly followed by Ms. Dymond.

"What happened? Do you need to go to the hospital wing, Dear?" Professor Dymond asked. Kneeling next to Hermione, she grabbed her under her right arm and Cindy getting grabbed her under her left. Together, they helped the Gryffindor girl to her feet. .  
>"I…" she glanced quickly to Tom, whose back was to her, and look back, "Umm, fell. Sorry, I didn't mean to scare anyone. I think I had a bad allergic reaction to one of the plants." She said, trying to smile at the Professor. She curved her lips upwards, but it didn't reach her eyes. Eric and Amanda must have noticed because, they didn't look convinced by her lie.<p>

"Well then, off you go. Class is over." The Professor said. "You need to go the infirmary, so get that checked out, especially since you don't know what you are allergic to. What if you touched it again?"

"You're right, Professor, I will." Hermione reassured as she grabbed her wand, bag, and books. Spotting the Slytherins across the grass, she ran to catch up with them. Shocks of pain vibrated throughout her body, but that didn't slow her down. She moved with a purpose and it didn't take long to get caught up with them. She was about to do something both very brave and very stupid. A habit she hadn't engaged in in the future, yet she'd been practicing for the last 24 hours. Maybe time-travel had freed her inner reckless Gryffindor or maybe she was simply going barmy. Either way, it didn't matter because at this exact moment, she had an idea on how to handle Mr. Riddle.

"Oi, Tom!" Hermione shouted loud enough for only the Slytherins to hear. They stopped and turned around to face Hermione, who walked, head held high, up to them. The Syltherin lackeys looked from Hermione to Tom. A look of incredulity flashed across blue eyes, "How-"

Cutting him off, Hermione said, "I'm not afraid of you, Tom." She spat the name with as much hate as she could muster. Every bone and muscle in her body ached from being under his torturous curse, so she had a lot of hate to muster. He was vile now, but nothing compared to what he'd become in the future. She might not be able physically hurt him, but she had a chance of doing it mentally.

"You better be careful. Where I come from, we already know your fate and you don't even measure up to Grindlewald. I also know your secret. I know about you Tom. I know who and what you are."

She saw the flicker of fear in his eyes as she pushed past him, making sure to bump her arm against him. She hoped it hurt, although she doubted her small, slight body was anything against his tall, lean muscular one. Being stuck in his time sucked, but being unable to talk to her friends or get proper help was the worst. She was all alone, just her and Riddle. She shuddered at the idea of being alone with him again. She knew the type of foul acts he was capable of. She was terrified, but she wasn't weak, and there was no way she'd ever let him know how much he scared her. He was predator. He could smell fear a mile away. She had to be logical about this, so marching through the castle with a purpose, she headed for the one place that usually helped her think clearly, the library.

If she had turned around, she would have seen a pissed of Dark Lord surrounded by his suddenly frightened minions. An angry Dark Lord wasn't good for anyone, especially if your name was Hermione Granger.

No, she didn't turn back. She continued alone, down the packed hall, but alone, and each lonely step was a link in a chain of events that would change everything.


	4. Dreams

**Authors Note: I Do not own Harry Potter. Jk rowlilng and the publishers and Warner brothers own the rights. Beta'd by Atlatean Diva. Touched up by KitKat. :) Thanks a lot Ladies. And sorry for no Line breaks. They seemed to have deleted that feature.**

Hermione hunched over the books, loosing herself in the comforting yellowing pages of the old tome's texts. The slightly dusty, old parchment smell brought her back to the time where the biggest thing she had to worry about, other than exams, was what kind of trouble Harry and Ron would get her into next.

A lump formed in her throat when she thought about Harry. She laid her head on her arms willing herself not to cry. She was unaware of anyone watching her, so she didn't bother stemming the flow of her tears. Tears that puzzled the man watching her from the shadows. He wondered why on earth she was crying when, she had seemed so bold and confident, during their earlier confrontation.

Wiping a stray tear, she turned back to her book, determined to find something that would give her an advantage over Riddle.

Still, she found it increasingly more difficult to complete her task as time wore on. The words were written in English, but they might has well have been in Swahili because she couldn't comprehend a single one. Slowly, her eyes began to drupe and she put her head on her arms and drifted off to sleep.

_It was 4th year, shortly after the first task, she was sitting by the fire knitting clothes for the house elves when she felt a familiar presence sit next to her. She didn't need to look over to know it was Harry by his movements and the woodsy smell that clung to him like a natural sent. The subtle smell was, warm and welcoming, it wrapped around her like a comforting embrace._

_" Hey Harry, how are you healing? " She turned to examine the cuts on his face and noticed that they were indeed healing up fine._

_"I am fine, Hermione, for the 100th time." He laughed, stretching his legs out and leaning his back against the couch. "You're getting pretty good at knitting." He commented as he watched her knitting the clothes._

_"Thanks, I've been practicing." She smiled, put her knitting down, and slumped against Harry. She opened one of her favorite books, Hogwarts: A History and delved within the familiar pages. It wasn't long before she felt Harry's fingers running through her hair. Closing her eyes, she sighed contentedly; this had been going on for some time. They would meet here in the common room, normally when everyone was in bed, and sit in comfortable silence, which consisted of Hermione either reading or knitting, and Harry playing with her hair or holding her. They didn't know why, but they felt at peace during these brief moments._

_Suddenly, the dream changed and it was the night of the Yule ball. Hermione was crying because Ron had upset her. She was in the astronomy tower, wiping tears from her eyes as she watched the moon and stars reflect beautifully over the frozen surface of the lake. That night had been going smoothly until Ron accused her of kissing Krum. Like it was any of his business if she had, even if she hadn't, she'd never been kissed. Ever!_

_She was startled out of her thoughts when she felt strong arms grip her waist and turn her around. Her chocolate-brown eyes met emerald-green ones, and she didn't need to be a genius to figure out who they belonged to. Before she had time to say anything, or react to his presence, his lips were on hers._

_The kiss was, soft and gentle, at first. Hermione felt sparks go down her spine. Wrapping one arm around his neck, she leaned in closer, pressing their bodies together. His mouth moved deftly over hers, causing a small moan to escape her lips, which gave him the opportunity to slip his tongue between pink lips. His hands moved from her waist, and slid up her back, pulling her into him, as if he wanted weld them into one being._

_Her breathing became heavier as he moved his lips to kiss the side of her neck, sucking lightly, but hard enough to leave a mark. She felt the warmth of his hand on her abdomen slowly moving up…_

"Hermione, Hermione, wake up!" A voice spoke while shaking her.

Blinking sleepy, she opened her eyes and looked up at Cindy and Amanda.

"What?" She groaned; confused and desperately trying to cling to the memory of the dream.

"You fell asleep, it's dinner time." Eric spoke as he emerged from behind the bookcase.

"Looks like you were having a wet dream" Cindy giggled, motioning to Hermione's flushed cheeks and messy hair.

"It was just a memory." She whispered sadly, desperately wishing things had gone differently.

"What do you mean? " Amanda asked, sitting next to her.

"I don't want to talk about it," She mumbled.

"You either tell us, or we will get it out of you." Eric grinned, sitting across from her.

Hermione paused. What could the harm be of talking about it?

"My first, and only, kiss" She blushed as she admitted it, feeling silly and a little stupid.

"How sweet." Amanda beamed.

"What happened to turn that around? " Cindy and Eric asked at the same time, both sensing a 'but.'

"Well, we never kissed after that. He did say he cared about me, but wanted to explore his options. He's my best friend, but things have been off since that night. He wasn't happy when he found out I was transferring to Hogwarts." Hermione half-lied.

Harry had stopped things before they started because he cared about her...at least that's what he said. Plus, he wanted to explore his options and get his feelings in check. But the other reasons were he didn't want to upset Ron, and worried about Voldemort making her a target. She didn't mention this to her new friends. Hermione was to proud to tell him that she remained hopeful that if they beat Voldemort a romance would bloom between them.

Hermione sighed; as if the Voldemort wasn't enough she had to worry about how Ron would feel if she and Harry were in a relationship. As if she should have to worry about Ron's feelings. He'd known she had a crush on him, but that hadn't stopped dating his current girl-friend Lavender Brown. The whole thing made Hermione feel like she was both boys back up plan. If they couldn't get the girls of their dreams, well, she'd be there waiting with open arms. She was angry.

Eric made a face. "Explore his options? That's dumb."

"Any guy would be lucky to have you. I've barely known you for twenty-four hours and I already know that you're a catch. Boys, you can't count on them for anything." Amanda grinned, putting one arm over Hermione's shoulder. Causing a small smile to form on her face.

"Hey! I'm right here!" Eric pouted at Amanda's comment. "You can count on me you know."

"Yes, count on you to be late!" Amanda teased.

"I know how to cheer you up, come on." Cindy grinned, interrupting the playful fight between her friends. Hermione then found herself being dragged to the kitchen's where she was given chocolate ice cream over chocolate cake. The dessert was rich, and very sweet, and gave her an idea of how to get to Riddle. No more mistakes.

She had left the book, Dark Marks and How to Spot Them, open on the table. The open page showed a skull with a snake coiling out of its mouth. The mark would one day be known as Voldemort's Mark. The person who had been watching her went over to the book and traced the mark on the page, muttering. "Who are you?"


	5. Chocolate Cake

**Authors Note: I do not own Harry potter, Beta'd by Atlantean Diva. Touch up'd by KitKat. Hope everyone is doing well. Enjoy!**

Tom hid in the shadows, created by the bookshelves, watching the girl's every movement. He was puzzled by her tears. She'd seemed so assertive before, but now, as he stared at her lightly trembling form, she looked just like any other crying girl. Tom prized himself on not being one of those weak men who couldn't stand to see a woman cry. Their issues were not his problem, but it didn't stop his curiosity where Hermione was concerned. Why was she crying after implying that she knew his true personality?

"Do you really know anything, little mouse? " He wondered, twirling his wand between long practiced fingers.

As time passed he started to notice that she had been on the same page with her eyes unmoving for the past 20 minutes. The sadness in her eyes grew until she finally put the book down, put her head on her arms and fell asleep.

He waited a bit longer before getting up and going over to her. Kneeling down next to her, he muttered "legilimens." Her thoughts were mostly foggy, although he did see: a boy with jet black unruly hair green eyes and glasses. It was the merest flash before it was blocked to him. It was highly infuriating.

"How much do you know, little witchling?" He growled under his breath.

It was then he heard her talking in her sleep. But, that wasn't what got his attention. What got his attention was the use of his name, not his real name, his true name.

"Harry, I don't care what Voldemort wants, don't act so rashly." She trailed off and put her head further into her elbow. Tom would have found this cute if he cared about such frivolous things.

"Who is Harry, and how does this witchling know my true name when, no one outside of my followers knows yet? "

He looked down at the book in front of her but couldn't quite see what she had it open to. He was in the process of slowly taking it out from under her arms when he heard voices coming their way.

Cursing, he quickly went back to his corner, shrinking into the shadows. It was the Gryffindor's: Cindy, Eric and his fellow prefect Amanda.

"Hermione, Hermione wake up." Amanda gently shook her. He watched her slowly awaken and lift her head. Her hair was a mess from tangling it in her arms, and her cheeks were flushed._ "I wonder if that has anything to do with that Harry boy, she was mumbling about in her sleep?"  
><em>  
>"What?" She looked at them with blurry eyes.<p>

"You fell asleep, it's dinner time." Eric grinned.

"Looks like you were having a wet dream." Cindy teased. Tom shook his head; Cindy had always annoyed the living shit out of him.

"It was just a memory." She whispered sadly.

"What do you mean?" Amanda asked, sitting next to her.

"I don't want to talk about it," She mumbled

"You either tell us or we will get it out of you" Eric grinned sitting across from her.

There was a pause, in which he found a spot on the ceiling very entertaining.

"My first and only kiss." She blushed.

"How sweet." Amanda beamed.

"What happened?"

It was then Tom stopped paying attention, he really didn't care about the obvious fact whatever relationship she was in hadn't worked out. Well that is until a certain phrase caught his interest.

"He said he wanted to protect me and being with him would put me in more danger. As if I couldn't handle myself. That and he found out I was changing schools."

_"Protect you from who or what, little mouse?"_

"Come on, I know what will cheer you up! " Cindy and the others dragged her out of the library. He waited patiently to make sure they were gone. When he was sure they were, he walked over to the table where Hermione had left her book open.

He looked up and then back down to the book, two fingers keeping the pages open as he examined what was on the page. His jaw clenched, there in black and white was his ancestor's symbol. The same symbol he had adapted as his own.

"Who are you?" He muttered out loud. "And how much do you know?" He dug into his bag and brought out a quill. Transfiguring it into a long piece of string he gently sucked on it, making it damp.

Tom looked up one more time. Peering through his dark hair to make sure the librarian was busy he put the piece of string between the pages then, gently and cleanly, tore it from the book. Muttering a spell under his breath the page numbers changed. Satisfied with his work, he left the library and headed to the nearest deserted hallway.

Walking up to a lamp, he held the paper up to the flames. It was an old, dry piece of parchment and it didn't take long to catch fire. Pulling it away, he watched it slowly burn, the light of the fire reflected in his eyes. A malicious smirk played at his lips as he watched the page turn black and then shrivel up, falling to ashes at his feet.

He was determined to keep his secret safe until the time he wished to reveal to the world that he was Lord Voldemort, and Lord Voldemort wasn't one to be trifled with.

Hermione would be his first example.

-  
><em><br>Hermione was swimming in an ocean, cold waves crashed against her body as she tried to move upward to get air, but was dragged down into the depths by something invisible. She tried to breathe, but only inhaled water as she struggled for air. Her eyes started to close._

_She wanted so desperately to close her eyes but a light caught her attention and she turned toward it. Hermione squinted as the light grew brighter. It was painful to watch, but she couldn't close her eyes. She could only use an arm to dampen the effect of the rays by putting her arm in front of her eyes. She wasn't sure how long she floated there, staring at the glow around her arm when suddenly the light dimmed. Hermione lowered her arm shocked to see a gigantic snake that appeared to be made of water._

_She felt herself relaxing and reached out to touch the scales. The second they met ,she was able to breathe and a voice entered her head._

_"Tread carefully, young one. snakes may change their skins, but are still dangerous. Become something precious enough for one to protect. Even Lords can change."_

Hermione woke up in a cold sweat. She coughed, trying to digest the invisible water from her lungs. Cindy sat behind her on the bed, calmly patting her back.

"Night terrors?" she asked, trying to calm her friend.

Hermione nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine now, thanks. But I don't think I will be able to go back to bed. I think I'm going to sneak out to the kitchen's to get a calm cup of hot chocolate, ok?"

"I'll cover for you. You don't have to tell me your dream, but you should write them down. It helps a lot, trust me." She smiled and hugged her. Hermione was slowly finding out that there was a lot more to Cindy than the boy crazy witch.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." She muttered, peaking around corners so that her hair flowed over one shoulder. Her night gown billowed around her legs, as if by an invisible breeze, as she tip toed through the castle as quickly as she could. Twice she had to duck behind a suit of armor or dodge into the shadows to hide from the caretaker or a passing teacher.

She sighed in relief when she finally reached the picture of a bowl of fruit. Looking down both halls to make sure the coast was clear, she tickled the pear and climbed through the portrait into the kitchen. Shutting the door, she turned around and nearly screamed. She had to put a hand over her heart.

"Professor Dumbledore! I didn't expect to see you here…I mean, I was having a hard time sleeping and just wanted…I'm so sorry!"

He chuckled and motioned for her to sit down in the chair on the opposite side of the table. "Calm down, Miss Granger. I'm not going to trouble you. In fact, I may just get a case of amnesia and won't remember seeing anyone here other than the house elves."

Hermione gracefully sat down in front of him. "Tell me, how and why am I here, and how do I get back?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that," The Professor paused in contemplation, "But things will make sense in time. Did you try the box?" He asked elusively, and then casually ate a piece of fruit. His evasiveness was starting to infuriate and frustrate her. The one person she knew was being as helpful was a baby.

"What do you mean?" She furrowed her brow in confusion.

"I find when my mind is fogged that retracing my steps is a great idea." His eyes twinkled and he got up. '"I believe you have something you were planning on doing, which I think is a marvelous Idea." With that he was gone with a swish of his cloak. Leaving Hermione confused, dumbfounded and wondering how he knew.

"Well, it can't be all bad if I got Professors Dumbledore's blessing." She grinned from ear to ear. Swinging her legs over the bench so she could get up, she practically skipped to the counters which had all the ingredients she would need to make her grandmother's chocolate cake.

"I hope this works." She spoke to a house elf who was watching her, its giant ears twitching curiously at the smell.

Later, as she was sneaking up to the dormitories, she was surprised to find Cindy still awake and waiting for her.

"What's with the piece of cake?" She peered curiously over her witch weekly magazine.

"I made a cake. Baking calms me down."

"So you brought back just one piece?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"This is for Tom."

"Why? You didn't lace it did you?"

"No, of course not!" Hermione blushed, somewhat appalled.

"You're playing with fire." Cindy advised.

"I do not know what you mean." She said, pulling her fresh robes over her head.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Hermione. I know he cursed you. I didn't fall for the 'I fell and allergic reaction to pine' bull shit. There was pure pain in your eyes and you were shaking. I would hope that you would learn to protect yourself around him. "

"True..." Hermione whispered as she laced up her shoes. "But, I can't let him think that he has any power over me. He can't expect to hurt me and have no consequences for his actions."

"What are you going to do? " Cindy questioned, curling her already curly hair with her wand to add more volume and "Oomph".

"You'll see. A little something I learned from my best friends twin brothers"

"Harry?"

"No, my other best friend, Ron."

"Well, breakfast should prove to be interesting. I'll meet you there. "

Cindy left as Hermione went to brush her teeth.

-

Tom flipped through the photo's Orion's older sister, Lucretia, and his cousin, Walburga, took for him.

"She just went to the kitchens and nowhere else?" He asked the ladies, looking at them with an angry glint. He still hadn't calmed down from Hermione's deliberate confrontation yesterday. As well as being so secretive, and the mark, he was glad to get rid of before anyone else saw the page.

"Nowhere else, M'Lord," Lucretia murmured, "just the kitchen's."

"Well, keep tailing her. You've done a good job." Indeed, he was impressed that they managed to take the pictures, without the girl noticing. The pictures they took were unmoving at the moment, he was to impatient to wait for the solution that made pictures move to kick in. He took one last look at the pictures, memorizing them and double checking to see if there was anything he may have missed before in his previous studies, any clue that may tell him what she was doing out of bed.

The solution was starting to kick in and Hermione's blue night dress flowed in an unseen breeze around her legs. But Tom hadn't notice for he put the pictures in his robes as Professor Dumbledore passed.

"Do you know what she was doing down there?" He asked Lucretia.

"No, she looked shaken. I guess it was mostly likely night terrors. Though we did see Dumbledore step out of the kitchen ten minutes after she had arrived."

He hissed, "Dumbledore," causing them to flinch. "Why can't that old coot ever mind his own business? "

"Maybe you should ask her? " Rose spoke. She was sitting across from him and heard the whole conversation. "She's coming this way."

He looked up and groaned inwardly. She was coming their way. She seemed awfully confident for someone he had tortured for over a minute. He would have to fix that.

"Do you need help with something?" He smiled looking up at her. The facade he had perfected over the years sliding flawlessly into place. Only it had zero effect on her.

"Yes, actually, I'm trying for a little house unity." She gave a small, almost teasing half smile, and sat down next to him. Uncomfortably close in his opinion. That or he was just hyper sensitive to everything she did. He shook his head at the highly disturbing thoughts.

"I made this and thought you'd like a piece." She put a piece of cake in front of him, the same one that was in the pictures.

His fellow Slytherins were scooting away, as if sensing danger.

Cindy and Eric were laughing into their hands, while others seemed to be afraid of what he'd do.

He was about to retort with some well-chosen words when Slughorn walked by.

"Ten points to Gryffindor and Slytherin for the house unity!"

Granger used that chance to put a forkful of the chocolate cake into his mouth. He growled seeing red, but politely ate the piece since Slughorn was watching. He officially wanted to kill her, and not quickly either, extremely slow and painful. Her drawn out death seemed very appropriate at that moment. His thoughts trailed off as he nearly moaned, the cake having melted in his mouth. It was very obviously not made by the house elves, because theirs were dry compared to what she just put in his mouth and it was defiantly not laced with anything.

"See, not that bad" She grinned, and then kissed his cheek before nearly skipping down the aisle.

He watched her go, intrigued. He was used to people he could understand and figure out in five minutes. He couldn't do that with her at all, and it was beyond irritating. He was sure she was mocking him.

"M'lord, are you ok there?" Abraxus asked cautiously. He was close enough to see Tom's eye's were now slit like a snake's, a side effect of making his first horcrux.

Tom glared, causing Abraxus to throw his hands up in defeat.

He took a fork and gently cut off another bite sized piece subconsiously as he took another bite. Neither the Blacks nor Malfoy said anything in case he felt like punishing them later.

He had a feeling Transfiguration with the old fool Dumbledore would be hell on earth next period.


	6. Projects and Roomates

**Authors Note: I do not own Harry Potter, Beta'd by the lovely Atlantean Diva, Touch up'd by KITKAT. **

"I can't believe you just did that! "Amanda said, ambushing Hermione as she exited the Great Hall and pulled her into an empty classroom with her Gryffindors in tow.

"Calm down, Amanda. Did you see the Slytherins faces? Oh my god, I thought they were going to pee their pants at the look Riddle was giving you. What was in that cake anyway? I thought he was having an orgasm." Cindy giggled.

"You must be a hell of a baker." Eric commented with a grin, wrapping an arm around Hermione's shoulder. "I like you, you have guts."

"It's one of my many talents, one that often goes unnoticed actually. Baking is precise and logical, it makes sense." Hermione grinned at her new friend, Cindy, whose face was red in disbelief that Hermione had actually gone through with her crazy plan.

"You've made a dangerous enemy, Hermione; I hope you know what you are doing." Amanda frowned. Mimicking the panic Hermione was feeling inside.

"What was that all about anyway?" Cindy poked Hermione accusingly in the shoulder.

"Well…" What? What was she doing, other than being impulsive and reckless? Hermione frowned. Harry and Ron were rubbing off on her after 6 years it seemed.

"I figured if I got his attention, I'd be further away from harm."

"How on earth did you figure that?" Cindy stared at her as if she had just sprouted an extra set of ears.

"Well, I was gaining his attention. I once read in a book that in order to a man's attention you have to do something unpredictable and spontaneous to keep them guessing and on their toes. Sure, I've probably pissed off Tom more than I should have, but it's safe to say I got his attention."

Eric groaned. "You've got his attention alright, him and half the other Slytherin males. At least I know Tom won't do anything to you, but Orion and Abraxus... The way they were looking at you…as a guy, I can tell you got the wrong kind of attention just now."

"That's actually brilliant." Cindy squealed, completely ignoring Eric's comment as she hopped up and down on the balls of her feet. "You can use that to your advantage Hermione! Distract Tom again, only this time make him forget that he probably wants to kill you for the humiliation you just put him through."

"Ooooh." Hermione smiled sheepishly. _"Dear Merlin what have I done? I have the most dangerous wizard alive angry at me and the attention's of my worst enemy's grandfather and my best friend's godfather's father. "_

"Oh shoot, we are late for Transfiguration with Professor Dumbledore." Hermione said, quickly running out of the room before they could say anything else. She jumped the vanishing step and ran in to the transfiguration room. The others followed close behind.

They arrived just as the bell rang. Professor Dumbledore was standing at the head of the room.

"Ah Miss Granger, Hawthorn, Bones, and Mr. Potter. I am glad you came, just in time too. I was just about to split everyone into groups. I have gotten permission from Dippet to split my sixth years into pairs for the rest of the term. What I mean to say is that until after the winter holidays you and your partners will be living together." Dumbledore said with a grin, the mischievous twinkle in his eye's brighter than usual. Murmurs filled the room at his announcement

Hermione and the others quickly took their seats. Luckily there was an empty spot on the Gryffindor side, so Hermione didn't have to sit with the Slytherins again. Even as she stared down at her books, Hermione could feel the glare from a certain dark haired Slytherin with captivating azure blue eye's, and it took all her will power not to stare back.

"You will be occupying the old rooms on the upper floors that are rarely in use. Now, the first person called will go stand behind the chair of the second person called, and so on and so forth. Remember, these are the people you will be living with for the next couple of months."

Everyone groaned with annoyance at the prospect of having to live with just one other student. Especially since the odds were some would have to share a dorm and be partnered with a Slytherin.

"What is the point of this project, Professor? What does this have to do with Transfiguration?" A Slytherin Hermione didn't know asked.

"Well, Miss Black, I am glad you asked. This is actually a combined homework assignment for all of your classes. Each night you will be given a problem that could happen, why you and your partner are on your own, and you are supposed to use practical applications to solve it. We will see where some of you are struggling and where your strengths are, so we can better educate you. We will rotate the material you will be tested on over the next couple months to be sure to cover each subject equally."

"Now, I will name you your partners." He flicked his wand and a scroll appeared with golden glowing names . When he began to read off the list, the phoenix feather on his desk rose up and began checking the boxes as he named each pair in turn.

"Mr. Potter and Miss Hawthorn," He called out in a strong voice. Eric blushed and looked shyly at Amanda, who was practically beaming.

"Miss Bones and Miss Carrow," Dumbledore continued.

Cindy walked over to Rose with a small smirk on her face. No doubt wondering what gossip she'd learn from the Slytherin.

"Mr. Black and Mr. Malfoy, the Misses Blacks, Avery Parkinson…"

Hermione tuned him out. Her stomach tightening as the list of possible pairings grew less and less. She just knew he was going to pair her up with Tom. Was this his idea of helping her? If so, she didn't find it very helpful.

"And finally, Mr. Riddle and Miss Hermione." Dumbledore rolled up his scroll with finality as Tom made his way over to her.

Hermione gulped. _"Oh no, I have to live with the Dark Lord? Really Dumbledore?"  
><em>  
>"It seems we are to be partners, again." Tom started politely giving her a gorgeous smile that she rolled her eyes at, only to catch a stern look from Dumbledore making her stop.<p>

"Yes, funny isn't it." She tried to be polite, but her voice fell flat of the enthusiasm that the rest of their class seemed to be having. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as Tom knelt down so he was closer to her. When he was level with her she noticed he had a familiar smell about him: peppermint, old parchment, a hint of forest, and spearmint toothpaste gave him a distinctive scent. She was trying to place where she had smelt it before, but he interrupted her.

"Are you coming or not?" asked Riddle, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"Sorry?" Hermione jumped, and blinked up at him confusedly. She'd forgotten he was standing behind her. The familiarity of his scent was wrapped around her like a faint memory, one she couldn't place.

"Everyone else has left, Dumbledore's showing us to our dorms. " He sighed and grabbed her arm a bit gentler than the last time he had done so.

"You really are a ditsy one, aren't you?" He chuckled pulling her out of the room and down the halls. The flames from the torches danced over his skin giving him an ethereal hue of seduction.

Hermione went red as a tomato. She hadn't realized the class had left she was so immersed in her own thoughts. Also the direction of her thoughts were currently going were of no help to her complexion. "I'm not a ditz! " She argued "I was just lost in thought.'

"That's being a ditz."

"No it isn't. It's being lost in thought."

"Ditz means scatterbrained or an eccentric person, and you M'Lady are both scatterbrained and eccentric." He countered.

"I am not scatterbrained!"

"But, you didn't deny that you were eccentric." He gave a half turned smile of triumph.

Hermione didn't say anything, finding for once she couldn't argue. She sulked in silence, grateful that it hadn't taken long to catch up with the class.

"I'm not scatterbrained." She mumbled, "I just concentrate hard on something until I figure it out."

"If you say so." He murmured close to her ear, again.

Hermione stiffened when she felt the fingers of Tom's wand hand slide over the small of her back , before being accompanied by the rest of his hand. She suppressed the growl that threatened to escape the back of her throat as he added more of a possessive touch that was clearly warning someone else she was off limits. Though Hermione didn't realize it, it was also very much a protective gesture. She turned to glare up at him but he wasn't looking at her. He was looking behind Dumbledore.

Hermione curiously followed his gaze. Dumbledore didn't seem to notice a tall boy, two inches taller than Hermione and several shorter than Tom, standing behind him. He had bright dyed purple hair and blue eye's. Both his ears were pierced: his left ear had an additional 4 piercings up the cartilage the one on his lobe a spider. On his right was just a single piercing of a spider web. His hair was cut short in the back, and his bangs were longer on one side and stopped at his chin. The other side was shorten and was swept back behind his ear.

The youth wore black pants with chain links on them and a black shirt with a skull. His dragon-hide boots were black, and she was sure she'd seen them in her time. Whoever this boy was, he certainly wasn't from this time period. Hermione couldn't help but blush. He was extremely attractive, not that it was relevant at the time. But why hadn't anyone else noticed him?

The young man and Tom had been engaged in a staring contest until he fixed his gaze to her. His eyes brightened and a small smirk appeared on his face. He looked back at Tom and an unknown look passed between the two boys. The pressure on her back relented only to be replaced by his arm wrapping around her small waist as he pulled her closer to him.

Of course, this got a lot of people's attention yet no one seemed to acknowledge the other boy that was standing right there in front of them.

Gasps and whispers filled the hall as the students craned to see what they were doing. Friends leaned closer to each other in order to whisper into each other's ears trying to figure out what was going on between her and Riddle. But she didn't hear any of it. Everything around her seemed to slow down to the speed of a Matrix movie.

Hermione felt as if water was rushing through her as the male walked forward. He stopped, a few inches from them, and glared at Tom, before speaking in low drawn out hisses. Hermione didn't understand it; nevertheless, she recognized he was speaking in Parseltongue.

One by one Dumbledore showed them to their rooms that would be their dorms until the only ones left were her and Tom. He had been quietly talking back to the unknown male. Hermione felt dizzy and confused; the water continued assaulting her ears. Dumbledore's voice sounded muffled and distant. She could only catch bits and pieces of what he was saying. It was like trying to hear with cotton (or in her case water) in ones ears.

"This will be where your room is until the end of term. Your first situation is on the table and you will be expected to have it finished by the end of tomorrow. You still have classes scheduled as normal, but unlike before, you will be partners in your other classes as well. So we can observe how well you work together. I wish you both the best of luck."

_"I wish you both luck." _Was all Hermione could decipher. She gave him a desperate look, silently pleading with the Professor to help her. Not to leave her alone with a murderous psychopath.

He didn't. He abandoned her with a knowing twinkle in his eye. Why wasn't he helping her? She felt scared and angry. Her mind was getting jumbled. She allowed Riddle to guide her into their shared rooms and closed the door.

Again she didn't fight, though this time it was because she felt very relaxed, almost as if in a daze as Tom gently set her down on the couch. She noticed that the boy, whoever he was, had disappeared as quickly and quietly as he appeared.

He was so close to her again that she could smell the woodsy and peppermint smell that was utterly familiar to her yet completely, Riddle.

Tom put the back of his hand on her forehead, assumingly checking her temp. "I'm fine." She slurred trying to get up only to fall back down as a sudden wave of dizziness overcame her. Tom's face began to blur until all she could see were swirls of color. Yet his touch seemed magnified as he put a palm against her cheek.

"Shit, you're feverish." He muttered. Gently opening her eyes, he shinned a light into them with his wand.

She hissed in pain and jerked away, whimpering with tears filling her eyes. The light hurt so badly she had to cover her eyes to dull the pain. She curled into a ball on the couch trying to prevent him from doing any more harm to her.

"I wasn't trying to hurt you, for once. And I don't see how going into a fetal positions going to protect you from me, if I was."

"What?" She looked confused. "What are you doing in my room?"

"Granger?" He asked, sounding almost concerned. He knelt by the couch and gently opened her eyes again. She didn't know what he was looking for. Nothing was wrong with her eyes… she hoped.

The last thing Hermione remembered, was asking Tom what was going on when she heard hissing, like a hundred of snakes were trying to talk once. She shivered at the harsh sounds, and her eye's fell closed, causing Tom to curse right before she passed out and fell into a nightmare.


	7. Family competition

**Authors Note: I do not own Harry Potter. This chapter was Beta'd by Atlantean Diva, and Touch up's by KITKAT who spotted some things Atlantean Diva missed. **

Tom was still fuming as he left the Great Hall; the girl infuriated him even more than that stupid oaf, Dumbledore. He couldn't figure her out. The second he thought he had her pegged she did something reckless to piss him off.

His mood did not improve as he headed to his least favorite class. It wasn't that he was bad at Transfiguration, contrarily, he was excellent at it. He was talented in all his classes. His problem was Professor Dumbledore. When he got to class he took his seat between Wahlburga Black and Abraxus Malfoy, who both sensed his mood and didn't dare speak to him in fear of being punished later.

Tom glared at Hermione when she finally arrived; however, she purposely avoided his gaze. Which made him smile, at least she had a decent amount of brains to read his mood. His mood became even darker when he heard what the old coot had to say next.

"When I mean pairs, I mean splitting each of you up into two and having you sleep in the same dormitories. You will be occupying the old rooms on the upper floors that are rarely in use. Now, the first person called will go stand behind the chair of the second person, and so forth and so on. Remember, these are the people you will be living with for the next couple of months."

He was NOT looking forward to this; he could barely stand to live with his fellow Slytherins. How could he expect him to live with a Gryffindor? Tom knew that Dumbledore would pair him with Granger, it would be the sadistic thing he would do.

"What is the point of this project, Professor? What does this have to do with Transfiguration?" Lucretia Black asked.

"Well, Miss Black, I am glad you asked. This is actually a combined homework assignment for all of your classes. Each night you will be given a problem that could happen, why you and your partner are on your own, and you are supposed to use practical applications to solve it. We will see where some of you are struggling and where your strengths are, so we can better educate you. We will rotate the material you will be tested on over the next couple months to be sure to cover each subject equally."

Now here are your pairings.

"Mr. Potter and Miss Hawthorn," He called out in a strong voice.

"Miss Bones and Miss Carrow," Dumbledore continued. Tom snorted. The Slytherin slut and the Gryffindor gossip would be an interesting combination.

"Mr. Black and Mr. Malfoy, the Misses Blacks, Avery Parkinson…"

Tom looked over at Hermione; she was pale and looking scared. But the look past as she composed herself and held her head high with what he could only assume was pride. This intrigued him. She sensed what he already knew and instead of showing her discomfort she'd chosen to stand up against a snake. A true Gryffindor, but not for long…he would break her.

Everyone had a breaking point, surely Granger did as well. It was just up to him to find it and exploit her weaknesses. He smirked sadistically. His eyes gleamed wickedly before going back to his friendly demeanor once Dumbledore called him.

"And finally, Mr. Riddle and Miss Hermione." Dumbledore rolled up his scroll with finality as Tom made his way over to her. He noticed her small gulp. But it wasn't out of fear, this he knew. He made her nervous. He could work with that. Inside he was fuming. If he had hated Dumbledore before it was nothing compared to the burning rage he felt for the Professor now.

"Seems we are going to be partners again." He threw the most charming smile he could manage without gagging. His smile only increased as she tried to roll her eyes, only to stop when she saw Dumbledore giving her a stern look.

"Yes, funny isn't it." Her voice sounded polite, but he was becoming unnaturally attuned to her. He could hear the clip in it.

He knelt so he was closer to her ear. "What's funny is what you pulled this morning, something I assure you, you will come to regret." Tom found it hard to concentrate being this close to her. It was the same as when he'd first met her. Her scent nearly drove him crazy: vanilla, strawberries and cream, with an underlining hint of cocoa. He had never smelled someone that had so many scents before, it was strange.

He moved to the door noticing the others were leaving, but Hermione hadn't budged. Turning he asked a bit louder than normal, "Are you coming or not?"

She jumped and looked at him with dazed, wild eyes. "Sorry?"

"Everyone has left, Dumbledore is showing us to our rooms. " He walked over and gently pulled her to her feet by tugging on her arm, and guided her out of the room. Almost afraid that she would wander off in her confused state.

"You really are a ditzy one, aren't you?" He laughed. Taking a moment to subconsciously admire how the flames of the torches danced over her skin, making her almost glow.

"I'm not a ditz! I was just lost in thought." She argued, a fire sparking in her eyes.

"That's being a ditz." He countered, enjoying the angry spark. There was a wild cat behind that mousy exterior. Something he fully intended to bring out. He was going to have fun with his prey before he broke her.

"No it isn't. It's being lost in thought." She snapped at him.

"Ditz means scatterbrained or an eccentric person, and you M'Lady are both scatterbrained and eccentric."

"I'm not scatterbrained!" She glared.

"And yet, you didn't deny that you are eccentric." He smiled triumphantly.

She went quiet and folded her arms over her chest, biting her lower lip, obviously defeated. When they caught up with the rest of their class, she murmured.

"I'm not scatterbrained. I just concentrate hard on something until I figure it out."

He bent down to her ear again, enjoying making her feel uncomfortable. "If you say so, my dear."

That's when he noticed him. Marcus...Tom felt a surge of possessiveness when he noticed Marcus watching Hermione with Interest. As far as he was concerned, the girl was his target and he felt no inclination to share.

Putting his hand on her lower back, he didn't take his eyes off the other male. He had cut his hair shorter since Tom had last saw him. Back then it had been long and black with blood red streaks. Now it was purple and cut short in the back with longish bangs on one side and shorter than the other. He still had the same piercings and weird clothing.

He narrowed his eyes as Marcus's attention wandered back over to Hermione. Marcus smirked and looked back at Tom giving him a, "I want her," look. Tom had seen his look of interest once before and he didn't like that look he was giving his mouse.

He instinctively wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to his body. Marcus began to speak in low hisses that he was easily able to decipher.

"Well hello Tom, I see you've gotten stronger since I last visited. Who's the girl?"

"I don't see how that is any of your business."

"It is my business, my dear, dear cousin because her powers strong. She would be fun to diddly with. I recognize her from my time, she's even more gorgeous now. Mmmm I'd love to feed off her magic and…other parts. " Marcus gave a cackling hiss.

"Try and you will see a repeat, worse then last time." Tom narrowed his eyes at his third cousin. A small hint of fear crossed the boy's eyes, but he hid it well. Riddle took to memory Marcus's slip about Hermione being from his time.

Marcus let out one more hiss, a spell he aimed at Hermione. Tom was able to use his own magic to shield her but not completely.

He held her up and kept her steady, not bothering to listen to Dumbledore as he showed them what room would be theirs. Once Dumbledore turned to walk away, Tom led her into the room keeping her up when she started to collapse. Shutting the door with his foot, he quickly scanned the room to locate the couch. It wasn't hard to find, so he led her to it and sat her down and kneeled in front of her urgently. She was sweating and shaking. Strands of her bushy hair had clung to her face and her eyes were unfocused.

He had to remove her hands from his robes as she was desperately clinging to them. She seemed to almost be inhaling his scent. Which made him think something was off. Well one of the things he knew was that she certainly wasn't normal, but from what he knew of her that action of sniffing him would not be something a girl like her would do. Wether she was normal or not. If she did do anything like that she seemed like a person who would do it with subtlety , and not make it so obvious that she was appreciating another's scent . He put the back of his hand on her forehead to check her temperature.

"Shit, you're feverish." He muttered as he cast a silent lumos spell and gently opened her eye's, checking the effects of the spell. Inspecting her eye's, he tried to figure out which spell she had been hit with. Her eye's were dilated, and she hissed at the light, threw herself back, and curled up into a ball to hide from his wand.

"I wasn't trying to hurt you, for once. And I don't see how going into a fetal positions going to protect you from me, if I was."

"What?" She looked confused. "What are you doing in my room?" She asked, attempting to sit up but he forced her back down.

"Granger," He opened her eyes, again, and found what he was looking for; her irises were turning purple. Marcus had hit her with a powerful libidinems spell. She was lucky that he'd deflected most of the spell, so she was only getting the drug like side effects. Sensitivity to light, overly sensitive to touch, confusion, and forgetfulness of what had happened a few seconds before, dizziness, and increased body temp.

"What's going on?"

He was about to answer, 'nothing,' but she had already passed out. "Shit."

Picking her up bridal style, Tom walked her to the room she'd be staying in and laid her down on the bed. She was already seizing, so he conjured up ropes and tied her to the bed so she wouldn't hurt herself. Running his wand over her body he started muttering counter curses. She began to relax, and he breathed out. If he was in a bad mood earlier it was nothing compared to how he felt now, today was just not his day. He was beyond pissed.

If anyone was going to hurt her it was going to be him. He would be damned if his cousin touched her again. Riddle did not really understand what he was feeling, or why, but he knew she was _his_ to harm. And subconsciously he felt as if the woman was _his_ period, but he didn't understand why he felt like he knew her.

As Tom watched, he noticed that every part of Granger seemed familiar to him, from her bushy brown hair, her delicious scent, and competitive nature.

Once her breathing had slowed and she had stopped seizing, he removed the ropes from her and left her lying on the bed. Getting a high backed chair, he sat it on the side of the bed and waited, determined to get some answers out of her. Like where, or more likely when, she was from. _"You have a lot of explaining to do, Hermione."_


	8. Truth's Out

**Authors note: As usual I do not own Harry potter. Beta'd by Atlantean diva. Touch up's done by KITKAT. **

_She was running, from what, Hermione didn't know. It was hot, extremely hot and no matter where she went she couldn't get away, blazing heat pressed down on her to the point it was hard to breathe. She was surrounded by fog that was so thick, she couldn't see the hand in front of her face. She continued to run as far as she could through the thick fog that obscured her vision. When she inhaled she coughed and discovered it wasn't fog at all but thick smoke, ash, and embers._

_Putting an arm over her mouth, she squinted through the smoke and ash to try to see her surroundings. Slowing down to a brisk walk Hermione looked around, hoping to capture a glimpse of something; anything that would tell her where she was. __**Only to have to shut her eye's tightly to avoid the fiery red embers that burned her skin, from burning into her eyes.**__ She was beginning to think she was alone when she heard it._

_A low hissing sound followed by the tinkling of small rocks falling as something large moved over ruble. She turned quickly to the left to get a glimpse of the source of the noise: the clouds of dust and flaming embers were thinner in that direction. Hermione could vaguely see destroyed and broken buildings that rose like dark shadows behind the smoke. The landscape looked as if she was in the middle of a war zone._

_Turning 360 degrees, she noticed she was in the middle of a cross roads._

_Hermione had just begun to ponder which way to go when she felt an urgent tug around the region of her naval. It was same feeling she had gotten when she opened the box in Salazaar's room. Deciding to follow her instincts she continued on ahead. The debris thinning more and more until Hermione found herself in mist, the heat of the flames gone. She found herself in a peculiar setting, the area was 18th century at the least. With a stone street and houses close together on either side, she could see the outlines of a few non working cast iron lamp posts. It was like she was standing in a setting told in a georgian novel. It was cold, so much colder than the previous area. She almost wished to be back in the heat._

_"Just great, I go from the frying pan and into the freezer." She thought bitterly as she pulled her arms tightly against her body, rubbing her hands up and down her bare arms for warmth. "Wait…why are my arms bare?" She questioned, looking down at herself, she flushed. "Well, this is just great." If anyone saw me like this…_

_She was wearing silk short pajama shorts that barely went to her thigh and the same material in a spaghetti strap top. "Ok, what's going on?" She asked aloud. Her voice came out clipped and shaky as she waited for a phantom reply, but was met with a defining silence. Ok, she had to be dreaming. There was no way in hell she would be wearing anything like this. if she were awake, it wouldn't be anything she'd wear. Now that she knew she was sleeping, she started to wonder why she wasn't waking up._

_Her breath came out in puffs of white mist as she continued to walk down the stone paved street. The stone was freezing cold under her bare feet causing her to quicken her pace in order to lessen the time her feet spent on the ground._

_A figure started to appear in the mist; Squinting, she moved towards the shadowy figure. As she got closer she started to make out a man in a cloak and a top hat with eerily familiar stormy blue eyes and dark brown hair that curled around his ears. The man moved closer until he came to a stop in front of her, but didn't utter a word. Just stared intently into her eyes as if trying to convey some sort of secret message, but she wasn't getting it._

_"_Tom?" _She questioned attentively._

_The man that looked so much like Riddle continued to say nothing. Instead he took a hold of the upper part of her arm gently yet firmly and pulled her into his chest. She was immediately engulfed in that familiar scent that distracted her so many times before in the past two days alone. It was as if her body was moving on its own accord as she wrapped her arms around his waist and locked her hands behind his back, pressing her body closer to his so there wasn't any space between them. Tears flowed down her pale cheeks of their own volition and she vaguely wondered why. Why and how long had she been crying? Had she been crying the whole time and just now noticed? Or did she start crying the second their bodies touched?_

_She blinked, startled as she felt his thumb rub under her eyes and over her cheeks, wiping away the tears._

_Suddenly through the deafening silence she heard it again, the same tinkling sound followed by something large, slithering along the ground, but this time she heard a long low hiss. Fear gripped her again and the man pulled her closer. He pointed his wand to the back of her head, and she closed her eyes, burying her face in his shirt as the cold wind hit her body cruelly. She just wanted to wake up from this nightmare._

_"Keep your eyes closed, Mia." Tom spoke in that maddening deep and dark voice of his, that was somewhere between a deep baritone and a tenor, closer to the former instead of the latter; a voice that commanded ones attention and gave absolutely no room for arguments. His words were kind words and were laced with an underlying threat._

_"Mia?" She questioned in her head. Only her father had ever called her Mia. She opened her mouth to argue and put him in his place, even in her dream she would not allow Riddle to tell her what to do._

_She didn't get the chance, with a loud bang and a hiss of a large fiery snake appeared in front of them. She only got a glimpse from looking up away from his chest and over his shoulder. Its fangs glistened with venom, the mist surrounding them disappeared and she found herself once again in the destroyed post-apocalyptic neighborhood. Whatever this was… The embers started to make sense. Its long body was black with red scales and it was on fire, the flames getting larger the angrier the snake got, the fire licking the sky. Dying it a blood red color._

_She didn't get to stare at it long, for Tom brought her back to his chest, shifting to lean over her in a protective manner. He hissed at it. She peeked up through the small gap of her shelter. The snake was speaking now, hissing and spitting. Not the least bit pleased. It sounded as if the snake was trying to speak English but it came out in low drawn out hisses and took a bit of concentration to decipher, and even then she didn't get all of it. She got the basic understanding however._

_"Dangeroussss path you walk, Turn away….to late…turn back…go away."_

_The snake reared its head and made a lunge for her; however, the man she was convinced was Tom pushed her out of the way just in time, causing her to land on the stones. She winced as the ground cut her palms, the pain jolted her awake. The last thing she saw before she regained conscience was Tom putting up a protective shield around her._

Hermione sat bolt upright panting and trembling covered in cold sweat, her doe like eyes were wide with fear and confusion a she scanned the unfamiliar room; She could still feel the hot flames of the snake.

Tom was straddling the chair, his arms folded over the back. He stared at Hermione intently while twirling his wand between his fingers in a purposeful manner. Personally, she thought he looked even more intimidating, partly because she had just woken up from a nightmare, alone, in a strange room with him watching her. _"That would unnerve anyone." _She thought.

His eyes were dark and stormier than usual with a spark of angry contemplation. She didn't have to be highly logical to figure out that he was angry.

"Where am I, and how did I get in here?" She asked so quietly it almost sounded like a squeak. Once she saw that Tom wasn't going to speak and apparently had no intention of explaining things.

Tom glanced up at her eye's, jolting out of his revere. His eye's softened somewhat and he got up; walking over he put a hand on her forehead once he was close enough. She stiffened in place, his hand was cool, yet warm much like a snake's. It caused a slight tingling sensation to go down her back. His palm moved down to caress her smooth cheek.

She was too frightened to move. She was alone in an unknown location with the darkest wizard ever to walk the earth. To her dismay she noticed her wand was on the dresser, which was located on the other side of the room, there was no way she could reach it before he stopped her. She held her fear back the best she could, hiding it behind her Gryffindor courage.

"You're still flushed but your fever's gone down, so the worse of it is over now, I think. Although," He pressed his palm more against her cheek, "I believe your temp is still three degrees above normal. As for where you are, you're in our dorm room, well, your end of it anyway. What is the last thing you remember?"

She thought for a moment, trying to clear her foggy mind, soon the memory of the boy entered it. "I…I remember a boy. He was speaking parseltongue, and I couldn't understand anything he was saying. "

"That boy's name is Marcus. He is…well, he will be a distant relative of mine. He hit you with the Libidinem spell. Luckily, I was able to deflect most of it from you; however, you still sub come to the fever and hallucinations. Now, it's my turn to question you, Hermione." His eye's hardened and became cold as he glared down at her. "I'm sick of your secrets girl; I know you're hiding something. When and where are you really from? Don't play games with me, I never lose."

Hermione looked at her hands, her mind going a mile a minute. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm an exchange student… Now shouldn't we go do our first task for the practical living tests?

"I have already finished it. Our first task was to list the practical uses for mandrake and to re-pot them. I've already done both. I'm surprised the screaming didn't wake you up. I know you're lying. You're not an exchange student because you're from the future, aren't you? Don't deny it. That boy you saw said he recognized you from his time. Which means, my little lion, that you are lying through your teeth. You're not a very good liar, did anyone ever tell you that? "

"Though you are a fairly good actress, and you may have others fooled, but you do not fool me."

Hermione played with her hands while Tom talked, her fear growing with each passing second. He knew. She was about to open her mouth to reply when pain shot through her and she was forced to look into Tom's hypnotic eyes.

He had yanked her head back by her hair to force her to look at him. "It's very rude to ignore people when they are talking to you, little mouse.

"Fine, you caught me." She spoke through the pain with clenched teeth, staring defiantly back at him. Tom gave a devilish half smile.

"I don't know how I got here or how to get back," she half-lied. "Now please let go of me and tell me, who that boy was."

He let go of her hair. "That my dear, was Marcus, he's my 4th cousin, my uncle Gaunt's great-great grandson. You seemed to have caught his attention, something I'm really unhappy with."

"Why are you unhappy with it? Also, how does he know me? I would know if he went to my school, he didn't. Wait, what year is he from? "

"Slow down, Granger. Why I'm unhappy is none of your business, little mouse."

"Don't call me a mouse!" She hissed.

"I'll call you what I want. You are hardly in any position to tell me what to do."

Hermione huffed and folded her arms over her chest, curse him for being right.

"As I was saying, I don't know, nor do I really care how he knows you. The one other time I saw him and managed to get any information out of him, he didn't say much except that we're related and that he's from the year 2018 and in his 6th year. That's all I got from him, since he tends to come and go at will. Anyway, I'm going to bed."

With that he got up and walked out of the room, his robes trailing behind him. She glared at his back even long after he had closed the door. If she had heat vision, the door would be melted by now. Getting up she stormed over to the dresser, grabbing her wand, she would sleep with it under her pillow. She didn't feel comfortable with him on the other side of the hall.

"Foul git," she hissed. _"How dare he try to control me! I'll show him. He'll be sorry he ever messed with Hermione Jean Granger!"  
><em>  
>She angrily went over to her trunk, seeing as it was there and striped off her vest, shirt and skirt followed by her hose and bra. She pulled on her silk gown that flowed to her feet over her head. She was about to slam her trunk closed when she caught sight of the jewelry box. The corner of the protected cloth had slipped in her anger. As she looked at it something Dumbledore said earlier came to mind.<p>

_"I sometimes find that retracing my steps is a good way to start, Miss Granger."  
><em>  
>She took the box out of the trunk and sat down on the side of the bed. Opening the lid, she retrieved a piece of parchment from the secret hatch. She expected to find the same loopy elegant message she had before.<br>_  
>"To whoever is reading this, I am probably long gone, as is my lover. History doesn't have to repeat itself. I have foreseen someone would find this. I cannot say too much without altering things. So listen carefully. Don't make the same mistakes as me, Child. You can change things. Just speak, "Tempus to the custos temporis."<em>

This was the same, but now other words appeared below them that certainly had not been there before. She nearly dropped the box in shock. Putting it on the nightstand, she laid down on her stomach and read the new entries.  
><em><br>I offer you what I can tell you for now. There is much you must understand and so little I can tell you, here's all I can say for now._

_Five elements_

_Water is calm, it speaks a warning but gives advice, follow it's advice carefully, Young one. For if you don't, your fate could be equal to mine or worse. I don't want you to have to go through what I did._

_Secondly, fire is unstable and dangerous, it speaks of warning. Fire will always try to make you turn away, don't fall for it._  
><em><br>Earth is tranquil will offer nothing but advice, words of wisdom and protection. This is the most important one._  
><em><br>Metal is strong, cold, and unfeeling. It wants to bind you to the heir. It gives nothing, just nudges you and hints at what direction you should take. Consider this one's advice carefully, for interpreted wrong could lead to disaster._  
><em><br>Wood is fertile, I pray you do not meet it, for if you do you will have more than just yourself to worry about._  
><em><br>Four Seasons_

_Fall, things are dying, changes have begun._  
><em><br>Winter, dead cold, you'll seek the warmth of another._

_Spring, rebirth of the earth, you'll have a fresh start._

_Summer adventure and an unknown journey_  
><em><br>Three shades, Three boys, (You are lucky, Young one. I had 6 to deal with!)_

_Light, darkness and grey_

_One isn't what you think, it's gone far away._  
><em><br>The one you least expect to be safer for you, is the safer one for you._  
><em><br>Beware the third. He pretends to be light but he is dark and evil, you're safer with the second one. He will try to get you away from the safer one. The first will also try to bring you away from the second by offering safety, familiarity, and shrouded happiness. Don't waver my dear. Though he is familiar and safe, go with him, and you will lose everything._

_I must go, these are the only hints I can give you. You're a smart girl, Hermione, you can figure it out. I have faith in you my daughter._

_NBD_

Hermione read the piece of paper 12 more times, especially that last line. Whoever this woman was, there was no way she could be her mother. If she was truly a seer, then she was probably mistaken. Yes, that was all.

Hermione yawned as she folded up the piece of paper and put it back into the box. Covering it, she returned it to the nightstand. She was too tired to attempt to figure out the mysterious riddles that bordered on nonsense.

Her mind full, she slipped her wand beneath her pillow after turning out the lights and settled into a very restless sleep. What on earth was going on? Not only did she have to worry about Riddle and his supposed cousin. She now had to deal with a bat shit crazy sounding woman that was apparently communicating with her from the past.

The last thought before she fell asleep was. _"I wonder if this is the first step to becoming a crazy old lady, like Dumbledore? I wonder how long it will be before I find myself starting to talk nonsense. Before you know it, I'll be Luna!_


	9. Mysterious Portraits and a Start

**Authors note: I do not own Harry Potter, this was Beta'd by Atlantean Diva, and Touch up'd by KitKat. Thanks girls ^^. **

The next morning Hermione woke up to the sun shining in her eyes. Squinting, she blinked, rubbing them with the palm of her hand until her blurred vision cleared and her room came into focus. With all the drama and events of last night she hadn't gotten a proper look at the room. So she took this opportunity to have a look around, skimming over it once.

The room was about the size of two Gryffindor girl's dormitories put together; however, it was longer instead of wide like the girls dormitories were. A charm had been cast that added and extended the room, so it was technically two rooms. This added room was sunken in more than the original room and was located on Hermione's left side, making it easy for Hermione to tell which side had been added. In that room was a couch, table, two armchairs, and two big bookshelves. This room was located to the left side of the door, and you could get to it through a set of stairs, a few inches from the right of the door leading down into it. Thirteen steps in total.

On closer expectation, she noticed the added room was more like a private library or study. She was very tempted to go into it and start taking books off the large ceiling bookshelves that lined the three walls. In the center were two deep purple armchairs with golden leaf ivy trimming on each of their sides, located in front of each bookshelf. Between them was a mahogany table. In front of the back wall's bookshelf was a couch in the same deep color purple with golden leaf etchings. The oriental style carpet in the center below the furniture was done in purple and gold. The area was bright and cheerful with light coming from a chandelier above the table. It was gorgeous, and Hermione already knew that the room would become her new favorite sanctuary.

_I would have gone with a more Egyptian color scheme, but I shall keep it like this. It's beautiful. I wonder how many books there are!_

After five minutes of debating whether or not to go explore the large inviting tomes, Hermione forced her attention to the right side of the room. Her room was leveled, giving Hermione the impression that this was the original room. The original room held a dresser on the right side of the door, a vanity table in the corner, and a wardrobe against the far right wall. All made of mahogany wood with brass handles and knobs.

Her bed was located from across the door. It was a four poster bed, adorned with the same purple and gold pattern as the furniture in the extension, only it was made of soft velvet and held open by bright gold tassels. Her trunk sat at the end of the bed. Not wanting to get up, yet, she turned to watch the island out in the middle of the lake.

The windows, she found, allowed her a prime viewing spot of the island. Since her bed was right in front of widows, she could open them in the summer for a breeze without having to leave her bed.

She idly gazed at the island, watching tiny waves dance across the lake by a light wind. She was about to get ready for the day when she saw it. A pale, white, and misty shimmer of a woman had appeared, but she was gone in a blink of an eye just like every other time Hermione had seen the ghostly apparition. Within a second of appearing, it would disappear making her want to know if she was actually seeing the woman or if she was seeing something her mind had made up when she was stressed.

After a moment of trying to register it, if she had truly seen the ghostly woman or not, she decided she really needed to go get some breakfast. Well, more like her stomach did, for it gave her a rather loud growl.

_I wonder if Tom is awake yet? I could use some food and a shower, but I'm not leaving this room if he's out there! I don't feel like dealing with him yet. I haven't forgiven him for pulling my hair!_ She thought bitterly.

Deciding to check, she got up and crept to the door, opening it quietly, she shyly peaked out to see if Tom was there. He wasn't. Deeming that she was safe from running into the Slytherin, she slowly stepped out into the new room.

-

The room was vastly different from her dorm. Four steps crept downwards but curved in a crescent shape around the right side of the room, so she could easily walk along the top of the stairs to the dining and study area without having to go down them. It ended in front of a room directly across from hers.

Hermione decided to focus at the area on the other side of the room at the door across from hers first. She suspected that that room was Tom's. On the right, up four steps, were to two huge glass windows with cobalt blue curtains held open by the same golden tassels that matched the ones in her room. The area in front of the windows reminded her vaguely of a small stage. On it were three tables and chairs. The two smaller tables were pushed closer to the windows directly behind a bigger table, yet located on either side. The bigger one was pulled forward so there was enough space between it and the two behind it. A large, blue and yellow oriental rug finished the room. Hermione loved studying the detail of the room.  
><em><br>Whoever lived in this room when it was first built had amazing attention to detail. This doesn't fit with the rest of the school. So this must be one of the older rooms they keep clean and refurbished. _Hermione thought as she surveyed the detailed carpet and curtains, which on closer inspection, she noticed had silver leaves etched into the cobalt blue fabric.

The bigger table had breakfast on it, and not having had dinner caused her stomach to growl, reminding her why she had left her room in the first place. She quietly made her way over to it and sat down, grateful that there was food. It was a simple meal of bacon, eggs, and toast with a glass of orange juice and milk. She gently touched it with the pad of her pointer finger. Making sure it was still hot. She sighed thankfully when finger touched the warm bread. Satisfied, she put the eggs and bacon between the two pieces of toast and began to eat it as a sandwich. She was in a bit of a hurry.

_"This place feels so familiar, like home."_ she thought, watching Tom's door nervously. She didn't want to be caught by Tom in nothing but her night dress, which was a strange feeling. She never used to care if anyone saw her in her pj's. She chalked it up to the fact that Tom made her nervous on a good day. The last thing she wanted was to feel vulnerable in his presence, and she was pissed off enough at his behavior as it is.

Letting her thoughts swirl around her head she continued her examination of the room. There were two doors one on either side of the wall in the dinning/study area. The one in front of her was labeled girls, and the one behind her was labeled boys.  
><em><br>Wait, the men's bathroom is on the other side of the wall in my room? Ugh, who designed that?_

She thanked her lucky stars that she didn't have to share one with the insufferable git. But she wished the girl's was next to her room and not next to Tom's and vice versa. But, yes, it was one good thing out of her situation.

_Least I get a bathroom to myself. A long bath should help me think. That and I could seriously use it. I smell like one of the twin's bad experiments._

Down the steps was a living room, the carpet was the same blue and gold. The couch and two armchairs were of a blue-grey that oddly suited it with a coffee table between them. That was where she saw a piece of parchment and what was unmistakably a Mandrake, so Tom hadn't been lying about that. The couch was facing a large fireplace that had two large paintings above it. The two armchairs were on either end of the table facing each other.

**One painting was of a 7 year old girl in a garden sitting on a stone bench, picking petals from a flower and dropping it to the ground. She had golden hair with a ring of white daisies on her crown. Hermione couldn't see her eyes, for the girl's hair covered her face. She wore what was a pale, peach dress with white stockings but no shoes. She was kicking her feet and there was a soft humming melody coming from her painting.

_That's weird, why can't I see her face? I've never seen a painting that has had a hidden face before, especially not at Hogwarts, the paintings usually like to be observed._

She pondered why, her eyes moved the second painting.

The second one had a set of three women in their late teens or early twenties, dressed in Victorian bustle dresses in different colors. The one to the left was a brunette with soft curly hair that went to her shoulders and honey colored eyes, soft features and a light about her, she looks so familiar. She thought. The Brunette was waving with her left hand and her right arm was around the middle ones waist. The brunette's clothes were of a deep crimson red and gold. A drawstring handbag laid discarded on the bench next to the two others, that most likely belonged to the other two women. Hermione found this very odd, she couldn't place why, it seemed normal enough. Who would want to hold a bag while being painted? But, something definitely was weird.

The one in the middle had pure, snow white hair that fell down her back and over her shoulders to her waist in an arrange of beautiful curls. She had an arm around both the other girls she was with, laughing, and her head turned to her right as she talked and laughed with the third woman, a red head. Her blue eyes conveyed innocence as she talked. Her dress was a beautiful blue with yellow here and there. The wind blew fly-away hair in her face which she kept tucking behind her ear. Her skin seemed to glow in the sun.

The red head had the same curly hair but hers was pulled up in an elegant bun. The loose strands curled around her cheeks. This one looked happy with bright green, intelligent eyes of a woman beyond her years. Her dress was white and identical to the other two girls. She was the only one of the two women with a wedding ring on her finger.  
><em><br>I think that's a wedding photo, or an engagement one at any rate. Something's off about these paintings, but, I'm not sure what it is. I'll go to the library later to see if, I can't find information on the paintings and if possible who they are of._

Hermione felt compelled to bow her head in respect to them, the three women bowed their heads back in return.

The only other thing in the room was more bookshelves from floor to ceiling that took up the whole wall and was opposite of the paintings. She had an itch to go over and explore the large tomes. But that would have to wait. She needed a shower. Popping the last piece of breakfast sandwich into her mouth and she drowned the last bit of her milk and juice, got up and headed to the girls lavatory.

Her mouth fell open once she got inside. It was a lot bigger than the one in the Gryffindor girl's dormitory, yet half the size of the prefect's bathroom. The tub was to the left, silver and deep, she could swim in it. It did look like a mini pool with taps and assortment of fragrant bubble baths in jasmine, rose, and lavender. A large cabinet full of different labeled soaps and shampoos was next to the tub. In front of her was a large mirror, five chairs, and a vanity set with make-up and hair supplies, even Hermione who wasn't a girly girl appreciated it. The loo and sink were next to it, a divider separated them.

Looking up Hermione noticed a chandelier that gave perfect lighting. The ceiling was made of glass and she was able to watch the clouds and birds fly overhead. It gave a very relaxing feeling. The light of the torches and sunlight dancing over the crystals of the chandelier caused it to light up the room more clearly.

There was a window above the bathtub that overlooked the island and lake. Walking over to it, she plugged it and turned on the water, jasmine, and bubble taps. Leaving it to fill she wandered over to the sink, where she found a tooth brush and paste, then proceeded to brush her teeth.

Hermione felt at peace as she did her morning routine, some normalcy in her crazy life, yet shockingly she was feeling happy, she was in a challenging situation of her own, she wasn't trying to get the boys out of trouble. It was her own problems and that in itself was exhilarating, not that she'd ever admit to it.

Once done she turned off the taps and slipped her night gown off and slipped into the tub. She gave a soft sigh as her muscles started to relax and she leaned her head back. Closing her eyes, she let the jasmine scented bath relax and calm her. It was Saturday, so she was in no particular hurry.  
><em><br>It is a nice change of pace to take a bath without Lavender or Parvati bursting in and bugging me to hurry up._ She thought with a happy sigh.

She started to hum a beautiful and soft melody, sorrowful, but full of hope before beginning to sing, her voice echoed off the walls.

_Now let the day just slip away_

_So the dark night may watch over you_

_Velvet blue, silent true_

_It embraces your heart and your soul  
><em>  
><em>Nocturne.<em>

_Never cry, never sigh_

_You don't have to wonder why._

_Always be, always see come and dream the night with me._  
><em><br>Nocturne_

_Have no fear._

_When the night draws near_

_And fills you with dreams and desire_

_Like a child asleep so warm, so deep_

_You will find me there waiting for you_

_Nocturne_

_We will fly, claim the sky_

_We don't have to wonder why_

_Always be, always see_

_Come and dream the night with me  
><em>  
><em>Nocturne<em>

_Though darkness fades it will give way_

_When the dark night delivers the day_

_Nocturne_

She let her voice slowly fade to humming the tune as she soaped up a sponge and started scrubbing. She then washed her hair with one of the many bottles of shampoo. The one labeled vanilla. She was in heaven.

In her relaxed state, her mind began to plan. She decided she needed to go to the library, well she was going to anyway, she had the paintings, and other research to do. Like what on earth was going on. There had to be some clues written somewhere. But her first priority was that Tom had let slip his uncles last name. She could easily do research on the family now. She would start with that.

She stretched and to extend the time, not wanting to get out yet she picked her wand up from the side of the tub and summoned one of the many bobby pins on the vanity in front of the mirror and transfigured it into a tooth pick and started to clean out the dirt from under her nails. Starting to sing again unsure where this bubble of happiness was coming from.

_Show your face_

_Don't hide_

_Take off the mask now_

_Underneath is a deep dark secret_

_Take me for a ride_

_Upon your white horse_

_Take your love_  
><em><br>Cause I don't want to keep it._

_I am out of place_

_And honey you are out of time._

_I'd tell your fortune_

_But the words don't rhyme_

_I'm not your chambermaid_

_You're not my lord_

_All the fine games we played_

_Have left me bored_

_I never want to see you come around my castle_

_'Cause I just can't afford to love you_

_I'm not your chambermaid_

_You're not my lord_

_Tell me what I have to do to make you_

_Understand it's a lost cause lover_

_Tell me while you're at it how it feels to_

_Hold me close when you've been thinking of her_

_I don't want to hear you say you love me_

_You've been gone such a long time_

_Won't you turn around_

_Before I have to see this face I once adored_

_Don't you see_  
><em><br>I am out of place_

_And honey you are out of time_

_I'd tell your fortune_

_But the words don't rhyme_

_You have no hold over me_

_What's in your cards now let me see_

_I hope you've got what you wanted_

_"There's just one thing I know will never be…" _She whispered the last line softly. The water now cold, she pulled the plug and grabbed one of the towels and dried herself off, using a smaller one on her hair before tossing it into the hamper she hadn't seen a moment ago.

She was going to put her clothess on when she realized something. _Oh great, I left my clothes in my room! Tom's probably out there at this point. Shit! What do I do?_

_Calm down Hermione and get a hold of yourself, are you a Gryffindor or aren't you?  
><em>  
>Knowing the little voice inside her head was right, she took a deep breath and wrapped the towel around her front. It was a bit shorter than in her time but she managed to cover up her rear and hold it in front, but a lot of her back was still showing. Taking a deep breath she stepped out cautiously and looked over to the couch and chairs.<p>

Tom was indeed there. He was stretched out on the couch, wearing black trousers, a loose button up shirt, and socks. He held a book with one hand- Hermione couldn't read the title—and was concentrated on it. His other arm was draped on the top of the couch with a glass of juice in his hand.

She cleared her throat to get his attention. "Excuse me, could you please close your eyes? I need to get to my room... and I'm not exactly, um... dressed." She trailed off nervously.

-

**Tom looked up as she spoke, his eyes were unreadable. But she could tell his body had tensed. After a few tense moments, he closed his eyes and she quickly went to her room. Once there, she shut the door tightly behind her.

She willed her rapidly beating heart to slow down and not let her mind dwell on the fact that Tom had practically seen her naked.

Once she was calm and collected, she brought out the garter belt and slipped it on, having no problems this time, thank goodness. She slid on her panties and stockings before picking out a matching bra. She liked when things matched, it irritated her otherwise, one of her idiosyncrasies. Grabbing a yellow dress she found in her trunk that had a matching jacket, she slipped it on over the dress and fastened a belt around it. Again, she was fondly reminded of her grandmother

She went to the vanity and grabbed a brush to quickly brush her hair. She had just finished when there was a knock at the door.

"Hermione? Can we come in?" Cindy's familiar voice asked.

"Come in, it's safe!"

Cindy came barging in and ran over to Hermione giggling and squealing. Amanda shut the door behind her before casting a silencing charm on the door.

"What happened last night?" Cindy grinned, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively, causing Hermione to go crimson.

"Nothing!" She squeaked.

"Uh-huh, like I believe that." This time it was Amanda smirking, both girls wore the same dress as Hermione only Amanda's was blue and Cindy's was red.

"What do you mean?" Hermione huffed, feeling confused.

"Tom was staring at your bedroom door when we came in. He had the look!" Cindy squealed and hugged Hermione around the middle.

"What's the look exactly?" She asked curiously. She had heard Lavender and Parvati talk about it many times but never truly understood, or cared, what it was exactly.

"The look is the one a guy gives a girl when they like them. Their eyes get all dark and smoldering, its quite obvious, very sinful thoughts are going through their head."

Hermione went red. "I'm sure you're mistaken. He always looks like that. How could you tell otherwise?"

"Alright, you're so deep in denial that you're in Egypt, Hermione. " Cindy giggled but dropped the subject of Tom.

"Your dorms are so much better than the rest of the students. You're so lucky It's so cozy! Anyway, you, us, we are going to today," Amanda said looking around the room in awe.

"I dunno," She said slowly. "I really need to go to the library."

"Merlin, Hermione, you have been here three days, and you've spent more time in the library than anywhere else. How about this, if you go to the library today, you have to go to Hogsmead with us next weekend with the boys. "

Amanda groaned. "You study even more than I do."

Hermione thought it over and couldn't help but give a small smile. "It's a deal if you buy the butterbeers"

"It's a deal. Now at least let us walk you, so we can be on our way to bunny. " Amanda grinned triumphantly.

Hermione laughed and slipped on a pair of black pumps.

"Ugh, remind us to get you clothes when we are in Hogsmeade next weekend." Cindy huffed, wrinkling her nose as she surveyed Hermione's clothes. "Those clothes don't give you the right fit, and that color is horrible with your complexion."

They exited the room chatting away. Hermione waved to Tom, who once again had his nose buried in a book. She doubted he noticed her.

On their way to the library, and once they were well out of earshot of the Slytherin prince, their chatter became more serious.

"We were worried about you yesterday. What was that between you and Riddle?"

"He was helping me stay on my feet. I was extremely dizzy and almost fainted last night. I passed out once we were in the room, but I don't remember anything past the sudden dizziness" She spoke at least half-truths. "He carried me to my room, and I woke up there."

"Enough about me! How are your roommates?"

"Well, Eric is fine, though he nearly fainted when we re-potted the mandrake. The idiot refused to put his earmuffs on; you think he would have learned, after he did the same thing second year."

Amanda and Hermione turned their attention to Cindy. "So what's Rose like?

"Besides being a strumpet player, she's pretty decent, and not a complete idiot. We mostly talk about boys. Orion and Abraxas are sounding so tempting, the more I hear!" She squealed. The other two girls playfully rolled their eyes.

It took an hour for them to get to the library, because they had gotten so caught up in talking about recent fashions. Hermione listened to Amanda and Cindy's endless chatter about which designers were in this season, so she could fit in better. They also discussed music, school, boys and what they wanted to do after graduating from Hogwarts. Hermione was actually starting to enjoy the girl's company. Though they were decades apart, they weren't so different. Just some of their views and proper female etiquette seemed different so far.

She learned Amanda was going to train to become a healer next year at England's Healing institute of Wales.

Cindy was going to take a year of journalism classes and hoped to be the next editor of Witch Weekly. Which, now that she had thought about it, Hermione remembered her name being in one of Lavender's magazines.

Once she was alone in the library after her three new friends exchanged kisses on the cheek, she settled into her favorite corner with a huge tome in front of her.

-

** _The Genealogy ofPureblood Families, there should be something about the Gaunt family in here. The name seems familiar. If I ever came across it, it would have probably been when I had read this book in my first year._ She thought, contemplatively as she opened up the book.

Three hours and a migraine later, she had found them, although three of the four pages about their history were blank. Apart from family names and a paragraph saying they were related to both Salazar Slytherin and Cadmus Peverell on the first page, there was nothing. The first name was well known to her. The second name sounded familiar and important, but there wasn't any other detail on the Peverell family. Just the three brother's names and Harry's name at the bottom of the family tree.

That fact didn't surprise Hermione because, all of the old wizarding families were interrelated. Even Muggleborns, like herself, were thought to be the descendants of squibs. She thought there was some truth to this, as the probability was high that she was distantly related to a famous potioneer named Hector Dagworth-Granger. The theory was impossible to check, for the wizarding world didn't see the need to keep track of squibs families.

Frustrated, she was about to slam the book shut when something caught her eye. On the blank page, below the Peverell brother's names, in a messy script was the name and number for a house in Hogsmeade.  
><em><br>Olivia Octaviak, Osmochescu, #15 woodland cottage outskirts  
><em>  
>Hermione wrote it down on a piece of paper and pocketed it. She was sure she could give her friends the slip long enough to visit the woman, if she was still there. If not, maybe the new owner or descendant could tell her something.<p>

Things were getting interesting. Her inner sleuth was excited at the possibility of solving a mystery, even she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.


End file.
